"We actually played the spin a lot better than we did in Kolkata" - Mike Hesson on RCB's loss to KKR in IPL 2023
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) director of cricket Mike Hesson spoke about the team's woes while facing spin in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) season so far. RCB batters were yet again tangled in the web cast by KKR spinners, particularly Suyash Sharma and Varun Chakravarty.
Earlier in the season, RCB were bowled out for 123 at Eden Gardens, where the KKR spinners picked up a combined nine wickets. In the reverse fixture at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday, April 26, spin once again led to RCB's 21-run loss. The surface did not sport any particular demons of sorts when it came to spin, but it was enough for the KKR spinners to work on
Stating that the batters played spin much better this time around against KKR, Hesson said:
"I would say Mahipal and Virat dominated the spin bowling and got us to a point where we were okay, but yeah we lost too many wickets against spin, especially early on. We actually played the spin a lot better than we did in Kolkata. We were able to score runs and take high-percentage options."
Hesson admitted that his side threw wickets towards the end, thereby jeopardizing a winning platform laid down by Mahipal Lomror and Virat Kohli. He said:
"The run rate pressure was never an issue, the partnership between Mahipal Lomror and Virat Kohli was really good, it got us to a point where we were actually ahead in the game. We then just kept losing wickets, and it was not really from the pressure created, some of them were wickets that we just gave away."
Lomror and Kohli put up 55 runs for the fourth wicket at a stage where RCB were reeling at 58-3 in the powerplay. The stand-in skipper led the run chase with a composed fifty, but his dismissal brought upon a collapse from which RCB never really recovered.
"I mean the gap was just 20 runs, we just kept losing wickets at regular intervals" - Sanjay Bangar on RCB's loss to KKR at home
The 21-run defeat to KKR marked the team's third home loss in IPL 2023 so far. RCB had begun the game well, but were the architects of their own downfall, courtesy of dropped catches and batting collapses.
Assessing the team's performance, franchise head coach Sanjay Bangar said:
"In all three departments, we were not as clinical because you would expect us to be very clinical on the field, there were several lapses on the field. We pulled the game really well after the first powerplay when we were bowling, just towards the end we leaked some extra runs. With the batting, I mean the gap was just 20 runs, we kept losing wickets at regular intervals."
Faf du Plessis and Co. will next face the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Stadium on Monday, May 1.