"That is one game where I feel like, it hurts" - Virat Kohli on the 2016 IPL Final
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) star Virat Kohli recalled the disappointment of the 2016 IPL final. The three-time IPL finalists fell eight runs short of their target against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), despite a good start at home.
An ill-fated final over from Shane Watson in the first innings propelled SRH to a mammoth score of 208-7. The in-form opening pair of Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle took RCB to the three-figure mark in just nine overs.
The team, though, could only score 80 runs in their final 9.3 overs at the expense of seven wickets. Kohli had inspired the team to the playoffs on the back of four consecutive wins towards the end of the league stage.
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The 33-year-old also registered four centuries in the campaign, and won the Orange Cap for his staggering run tally of 973 runs. Kohli admitted that the narrow loss still hurts, while talking on the RCB Podcast, saying:
"The final, I feel like it was written, how could the finals be in Bangalore, after we play that kind of a season, and we are playing that kind of a game at 100-0 after 9 overs. To this date, KL takes screenshots of that game when it is broadcasted, and says it still hurts."
"And it does hurt to an extent. You have to think about that game every now and then. We were not good enough on that day. That is one game where I feel like, it hurts. From all the IPL seasons I've been a part of, we had it right in front of us,"
RCB have suffered two close defeats in the final of the competition. They suffered a five-run loss in the final of the second edition in South Africa. The 2016 edition marks the only time when the 33-year-old led the team to the last game of the tournament.
"I would say we had opportunities, where we came close" - Virat Kohli
The former RCB captain proceeded to dissect the franchise's woes when it came to winning the title.
He notes that the team have had opportunities to win the trophy, but have been second-best in crunch moment. Speaking fondly of the iconic 2016 campaign, Kohli said:
"In 2016, KL Rahul's career graph changed, and he agrees with me on this. That season was obviously unbelievable, four guys performing at their peak, game in game out, very rare to see that in T20 cricket.We felt like, even though we were not doing well in the season, we could make it. The belief never went away, which I think is very difficult to create,"
RCB 2016
Kohli, ABD, Gayle, Rasool, Mandeep, Jordan, Binny, Abdulla, Baby, Sarfaraz, Patel, Richardson, Arvind, Watson, Rahul, Wiese, Jadhav, Shamsi, Chahal, Milne, Head, Aaron
Another great season as the team finished runners-up, with the Captain recording 973 runs
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He continued:
"Not winning a title as captain disappoints me, I would say we had opportunities, where we came close. We have to accept the fact that the reason we have not won is because we have not been as courageous, or as clear in our plans as we should have been in those moments. You could say that the odds were stacked against us in terms of expectations, but you have to deal with those expectations."
The franchise has struggled to get past the playoff stage of the IPL recently. Virat Kohli has been retained as the number one pick along with Glenn Maxwell and Mohammad Siraj ahead of the mega-auction.