Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), after a good first-leg of IPL 2021 in India, are struggling to get going in the second-leg as they registered a 6-wicket loss against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in match 35 of this year’s edition of Indian Premier League (IPL 2021).
Even though the Virat Kohli-led franchise got off to a great start with the scoreboard reading 111/0 at one stage, they failed to take advantage and ended up with just 156/6 in their 20 overs.
The former England batter Kevin Pietersen was shocked with the way the game unfolded and the way this Chennai-based franchise made an epic comeback to the game and went on to point out a couple of issues in the RCB camp.
“You can gain momentum through winning and then you can gain momentum through losing as well. If you are going to get hammered like they were against KKR and now you are going to lose a game from being in a very good position then there is a problem. They were 111 for no loss but lost the game, that's an issue,” Pietersen said in the post-match show on Star Sports.
IPL 2021: CSK bowling coach Eric Simmons lauds Dwayne Bravo's bowling in team's win over RCB
Despite the RCB openers Virat Kohli (53) and Devdutt Padikkal (70) provided an amazing start, the middle order crumbled and allowed CSK bowlers to get back into the game with all-rounder Dwayne Bravo picking 3-24 his 4 overs making a huge difference.
Pietersen then cited bowling issues in the RCB side as CSK batters did not show any respect to spinners and chased down the target with 11 balls to spare.
“There are bowling issues too. We keep saying it, who is the bowler (who is going get wickets... Chahal can't continue to do it. I know h gets wickets, he gets wickets for RCB but you cannot say to him that you've got to do it every match. Somebody else has to stand up. One of the seamers have to stand up,” the Englishman concluded.
With this defeat against MS Dhoni-led CSK, RCB registered their seventh consecutive loss to UAE. After CSK, Virat Kohli and Co. will be taking on defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) on Sunday (26 September) at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
(With Star Sports Inputs)
