After suffering six consecutive defeats at the beginning of IPL 2019 and being on the verge of elimination from the tournament, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli urged his team and its players to "look into the mirror" and asked themselves whether their performances have been good enough. 

"I remember after the 6th game everyone got together and we looked at each other and nodded our heads and that was it," Kohli told Star Sports just prior to RCB's last league encounter on Saturday (May 4) against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Bangalore. "We are doing everything possible and literally, there is nothing going right. Even in the games when we were up for it 80% of the game and we would just lose it in those two overs."

"We just had one message to give to the team that we are committed 120% every ball every minute. It is up to the individuals to look into the mirror and ask I am doing enough."

However, Virat was quick to admit that RCB's balance in the initial phase wasn't right at all as it plagued the team in some really close games, like the ones versus Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. "We always try to do our best. Sometimes, the balance of the team just does not set right in a tournament like IPL, for the team to fire. Someone who gets the balance right from game one they go on and dominate all the games someone like CSK or Mumbai or Delhi. They have a good balance which unfortunately we could not initially."

"I think it is always important to start well in IPL. We have seen that in the past. I think 2016 was a freakish season where we just played well and, in the end, did not qualify. But if you don't start well your chances of qualifying becomes lesser and lesser."

Of course, there are many things RCB could have done differently at the auction table and even during the season, which Virat also acknowledged saying, "I think it is always important to start well in IPL. We have seen that in the past. I think 2016 was a freakish season where we just played well and, in the end, did not qualify. But if you don't start well your chances of qualifying becomes lesser and lesser."

RCB won none of its first six games and though the team enjoyed a run of four victories in its next five encounters, the too much ground conceded at the start of the competition eventually came back to haunt Virat's men. 

"If you collectively don't win for 6 games which none of us had experienced before, and we spoke about it and then everyone just woke up. I think it gets a little more difficult to go through the play-offs."

"But having said that we brought in a few new people as well. So, for them to settle in the IPL was not going to be easy. If some people got going then things would have been different," he concluded.

RCB finished off the season with a four-wicket victory over SRH.