Virat Kohli continued his sublime form in the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as he followed up his fiery knock of 77 against Punjab Kings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru last week with a knock of 83 from 59 balls on Friday against Kolkata Knight Riders at home. However, RCB managed only 186 for six in 20 overs, which was comfortably chased down by KKR with 19 balls to spare. Left fuming at RCB’s loss at home, which ended an IPL 2024 streak, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at Bengaluru batters for not supporting Kohli in his act.
Kohli did find himself into two partnerships after the early dismissal of captain Faf du Plessis, stitching 65 runs alongside Cameron Green and a 42-run stand with Glenn Maxwell. But while Kohli tried to keep the momentum up through the two partnerships, the latter two failed to convert their starts. RCB finished with 182 for six after a handy cameo from Dinesh Karthik, who managed an eight-ball 20, laced with three sixes.
Despite what looked like a challenging total on the two-paced track, KKR, riding on a fiery start from Sunil Narine (47 off 22) and a quickfire fifty from Venkatesh Iyer (50 off 30), chased it down in 16.5 overs with seven wickets in hand.
The loss not only ended an IPL 2024 streak to nine straight home wins since the start of the season, but also extended KKR’s winning record at the Chinnaswamy, as they remain unbeaten at the venue against RCB since 2015. Overall, KKR have managed eight IPL wins against the Royal Challengers, which is the joint-most alongside Mumbai Indians.
Disappointed at the poor batting show from the rest of the RCB line-up, Gavaskar told Star Sports that Kohli would have ended up scoring a century against KKR had the likes of Green and Maxwell supported him well.
“You tell me how much Kohli will do alone – someone should accompany him, If someone had supported him today, he would definitely have scored 120 instead of 83, so this is team sport not a single man game, he didn’t get any support today,” Gavaskar said.
RCB, who have now lost twice and won just one in IPL 2024, will next face Lucknow Super Giants on April 2 at home.
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