Star Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batsman Virat Kohli has suffered consecutive failures in the ongoing IPL 2023, and it’s a dent to RCB that these two low scores have come in the latter part of the tournament.
After managing just 1 run against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, Virat Kohli was dismissed for 18 runs off 19 balls against the Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Sunday afternoon.
Although Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis didn’t lose their wickets in the powerplay, both the batters went at a scooter pace in the first 6 overs: RCB were 42/0 at the end of the powerplay, failing to properly utilize the field restriction in the first six overs.
So, naturally, they had to take more risks after the powerplay, and in doing so, Virat Kohli perished to uncapped pacer KM Asif in the 7th over. The right-hander managed a run-a-ball 17 runs in the powerplay and was dismissed for 18 runs off 19 balls, failing to kick-on after taking his time initially.
Trying to force the pace on this two-paced deck in Jaipur, Virat Kohli skipped down the pitch to loft KM Asif down the ground. He was deceived by the slower ball and managed to lob it up in the air. Yashasvi Jaiswal got under the ball and took a safe catch.
While KM Asif celebrated the dismissal of the great Virat Kohli animatedly and with full aggression, the 34-year-old RCB star could only put his head down in disappointment and had to take the walk back to the dressing room.
Here, watch: Virat Kohli’s dismissal via a brilliant slower ball from KM Asif:
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Today’s match vs RR is a must-win game for RCB. RCB have 10 points in 11 matches and all their three remaining games are must-win encounters for them to reach 16 points. Losing any one of them, with their poor NRR, would mean all but elimination from the playoff race for RCB.
Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bat first.
Teams:
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Joe Root, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Adam Zampa, Sandeep Sharma, KM Asif, Yuzvendra Chahal
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Anuj Rawat, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik(w), Michael Bracewell, Wayne Parnell, Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj
