IPL 2018: Quinton de Kock terms RCB's home defeat as a ‘tough pill to swallow’

I think RCB and CSK both played really well in Bengaluru, says De Kock.

MS Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu were unstoppable in Bangalore | AFP

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock has termed on Thursday (26 April) RCB’s 5-wicket loss to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as a ‘tough pill to swallow’.

On Wednesday (25 April), RCB –led by Virat Kohli had a great start against the CSK, as they put up 205/8 on the board thanks to the fifties by the South African duo de Kock and AB de Villiers, and Mandeep Singh’s quick knock of 32 off 17 balls. But Kohli’s bowlers drastically failed to defend the total, as they could not stop MS Dhoni from firing runs from his bat, hitting unbeaten 70* off 34 balls with 7 sixes and 1 four, to help CSK to beat the hosts by 5 wickets in a high-scoring IPL 2018 encounter.

As per reports in Wisden India, De Kock told reporters, “It’s mixed emotions at the moment. I think us and CSK both played really well. But at the end of the day, you don’t want to be on the losing side. (It’s) a tough pill to swallow. We need to go back, look at the drawing board. Look at everything, talk about it and come back better.”

The 25-year-old also praised Mohammed Siraj, who went for 14 from the 19th despite conceding just three of the first four balls when CSK needed 30 from the last two overs, saying he bowled unbelievably well but Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu were unstoppable here.

He further stated, “In the IPL, to be a death bowler is the toughest job you can have. A guy like Siraj today – I was standing back and I thought he bowled unbelievably (well). His last two overs to (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu were really good. Unfortunately, Dhoni hit one or two good shots. But that’s the way it is.”

The left-hander further added, “The thinking was Chennai have got a long batting line-up. We were looking to get early wickets, which we did too. We got some quick wickets and then our bowlers were trying to pick up one or two more wickets. Obviously, the name of the game against Chennai is to pick up wickets early or they will bat you out in 20 overs. That’s how long and good their batting line-up is. So we gave ourselves the best chance and tried to pick as many wickets we could.”

Quinton signed off by saying, “We actually thought we were on par. We were speaking about 200. We got the total we wanted. Unfortunately, one or two wickets during the middle phase meant we couldn’t get to a higher total. But we were perfectly happy with our score. We just thought it was just a bit more than par. So, happy with that.”

 

 

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 26 Apr, 2018

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