“We are gutted about the performance” - Vijaykumar Vyshak reflects on RCB’s loss to KKR

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pacer Vijaykumar Vyshak has stated that the team are “gutted” after their 21-run loss to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Wednesday, April 26. Vyshak opined that dropped catches hurt RCB as they ended up conceding an extra 30 runs.

Batting first in the game, KKR posted 200/5 as Jason Roy (56 off 29) and skipper Nitish Rana (48 off 21) played blazing knocks. However, Bangalore dropped Rana twice and the KKR skipper made them pay. In their chase of 201, RCB were restricted to 179/8.

In a post-match press conference, Vyshak, who registered figures of 2/41, admitted that RCB got a few things wrong. He commented:

“We are gutted about the performance. We dropped a couple of catches and gave 30 runs extra, but we did come back strong. We batted really well in the first couple of overs, but we lost a lot of wickets and that’s where we ended up losing.”

Bangalore got off to a brisk start in the chase as the openers added 31 in 2.2 overs. However, once Faf du Plessis (17 off seven) was dismissed by Suyash Sharma, the innings lost direction despite Virat Kohli’s half-century. On the team’s batting approach, Vyshak said:

“We always play bold and that’s what we always do. It doesn’t matter who is bowling, if it is a bad ball, it’s a bad ball and has to be punished. A couple of balls where our batters got out were supposed to be hit. But we were unlucky that they were hit to the fielder.”

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While Kohli top-scored with 54 off 37, Mahipal Lomror contributed 34 off 18. None of the other batters reached 30.

“It was just one of those games” - Vyshak on RCB going wicketless in the powerplay

Bowling in the powerplay has been one of RCB’s strong suits in IPL 2023. However, on Wednesday against KKR, they conceded 66 runs in the first six overs without claiming a wicket.

Reflecting on the disappointing bowling effort, Vyshak termed it a one-off. He explained:

“It’s important to bowl well with the new ball and [Mohammed] Siraj has been bowling really well. Today was one of the days when the ball didn’t swing much. We have been doing really well in the powerplay and will still do so. It was just one of those games where we couldn’t get a wicket.”

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Wanindu Hasaranga impressed for RCB with figures of 2/24. However, Harshal Patel proved expensive, conceding 44 runs in four overs without claiming a wicket.