Royal Challengers Bangalore were humiliated by Sunrisers Hyderabad, who cruised to a nine-wicket victory on Saturday in the one-sided IPL match. Virat Kohli’s persistent poor form was a portent of things to come.
Virat Kohli’s poor form continued as Sunrisers Hyderabad cruised to an easy nine-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in Saturday’s one-sided IPL contest. RCB were bowled out for a paltry 68 in just 16.1 overs as Kohli was removed outside the off-stump of the very first ball he faced. IPL’s all-time low total was the sixth-worst of all time. The star-studded RCB line-up was shaken by the Sunrisers’ speed assault, which was led by Marco Jansen (3/25 in 4 overs) and ably supported by Umran Malik (1/19 in 4 overs) and T Natarajan (3/10 in 3 overs).
In response, SRH needed only eight overs as Abhishek Sharma and Kane Williamson smashed a deflated RCB attack for 47 runs off 28 balls (16 not out).
Second-placed SRH now has 10 points, while third-placed RCB would prefer to forget this game as a nightmare. However, one has to ask if Kohli can do the same, given that he is one of the greatest cricketers of all time.
It’s clear that he has serious issues, but he doesn’t appear to be taking any remedial measures in his approach, since the same mistakes are made over and over.
This is not the first time Dushmantha Chameera and Marco Jansen have exposed a significant flaw in Virat Kohli’s armor.
As Jansen took out Faf du Plessis, Kohli, and Anuj Rawat off the second, third, and last deliveries of the second over, the game was effectively over.
A few were angled across, while others held their line, while Natarajan obtained some movement in the air and Malik was releasing his thunderbolts at upwards of 150 clicks in Jansen’s situation.
Jagadeesha Suchith, a left-arm spinner, was also unrelenting as RCB struggled to get the momentum flowing their way.
Natarajan grabbed Glenn Maxwell (12) beautifully at mid-off to put the score at 20-4. Other than Suyash Prabhudesai, the only other player to attain double digits was (15).
However, Kohli’s dismissal would disappoint his legion of admirers as his off-stump issues seem to have resurfaced.
During the South Africa Test series a few months ago, Jansen was a major headache for Kohli because he consistently bowled the ideal Test match length, full, and got the ball to either form in or keep its line.
The backward point was in play against Lucknow, and Kohli’s tendency to jab at deliveries in the off-stump channel with heavy hands proved to be his downfall, as Aiden Markram snapped it in the second slip.
As soon as Dinesh Karthik (7) was caught down leg-side off Suchith trying to sweep, RCB’s hopes of a comeback were dashed.
Lower-order batsmen looked terrified once they were reduced to 47 for 6 after nine overs against Umran, whose ball seemed to smash the bat rather than the other way around.
As experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar finished out the batting, Natarajan kept up the pressure and snuffed out the wickets.
