RCB haven’t had a set batsman for their No. 3 position throughout the eight matches played so far. After Rajat Patidar, Shahbaz Ahmed and Washington Sundar in the India leg, wicketkeeper-batsman KS Bharat became the latest holder of the slot in RCB’s nine-wicket loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Monday (September 20).
Could they have brought Kohli down to his familiar No. 3 position and made Devdutt Padikkal open with Bharat, who anyway opens for Andhra in T20s? This would’ve even restored the left-right combination.
The RCB chief added that the Andhra lad was particularly brought in to keep wickets, thus sparing star batsman AB de Villiers that extra workload.
Virat Kohli (5 off 4) went back in the hut in just the second over, while KS Bharat (16 off 19) was the second-highest scorer for RCB, as the Bangalore-based outfit crumbled for a paltry 92. KKR polished off the chase within 10 overs.
“It was actually important to get any form of distraction out of the way early” – Hesson on Virat Kohli quitting RCB captaincy
Virat Kohli made headlines in the build-up to the league’s resumption after announcing he will step down from both RCB and India’s T20 captaincy, following IPL 2021 and the T20 World Cup respectively.
While the timing of his decision has come under the scanner, Mike Hesson clarified that both Kohli and the RCB management wanted to rid themselves of all off-the-field talk before their first match. He added that their loss to KKR was more about the team failing as a unit than them being affected by Kohli’s move.
While RCB stayed rooted to third spot in the points table with five wins, Eoin Morgan’s KKR jumped two places to fifth. However, KKR have managed just three wins from eight games so far.
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