Bengaluru: It was a sure piece of humiliation for Royal Challengers Bangalore when they miserably failed to chase a paltry 132 and were scrambled to 49 all out. But to Sunrisers Hyderabad all-rounder Ben Cutting, “Virat Kohli and his army remain formidable despite their inexplicable at Eden Gardens.”
After a rain clad evening at Kolkata, which witnessed the toss being delayed, Virat on winning the toss elected to field. To him, the pitch looked tacky and that he would love to explore it. But opener Sunil Narine let blitz in the power-play overs to assign firm grip to Kolkata.
However, with quick dismissal of Gautam Gambhir and Narine, the Knights started faltering one by one and it was only a matter of time that saw RCB gaining momentum, courtesy their spin attack that scalped six wickets.
Much was expected of Bengaluru who boasted of Virat, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle. But they dipped down to sure blunder as KKR-pace attack humiliated Bengaluru to lowest total 49 all out. RCB now sits loiterring below the table with two wins from seven matches.
“49 all out – it happens time to time, RCB is still a very strong team,” he told reporters at an interaction here referring to RCB’s horror night against Kolkata Knight Riders in an away game.
Chasing a paltry 132 to win, Virat Kohli’s RCB collapsed to 49, the lowest total in the history of IPL. The result was an embarrassing 82-run loss to Kolkata Knight Riders.
Bengaluru will next face the defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad at their home arena and will look to bounce back to their dominant form. Speaking about the match, Cutting said, “Hyderabad does not have any specific strategy in place for Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle and his side would stick to the gameplan of restricting RCB in the first six overs.”
“We do not have a strategy against ABD, Kohli and Gayle. We will stick to our gameplan which is working for us – that is restricting opponents in the first six overs,” he added.
Cutting said Hyderabad is not out of contention because four wins in seven games is a good enough campaign so far.
“We are not too far off the map, four wins in seven games is quite good. We are halfway through and seven more games left. If things improve, we will be in comfortable position.”
(with PTI inputs)
Source: Zee News