Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli took comfort in his side’s fightback with the ball as they fell to a seven-wicket defeat in the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) opener against Chennai Super Kings.
Kohli’s men were bowled out for just 70 runs at the Chepauk stadium after being made to bat first by MS Dhoni with Chennai’s spinners running havoc.
Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadeja shared eight wickets between themselves with Parthiv Patel being the sole Bangalore batsman to get into double figures.
However, Royal Challengers did show some resistance with the ball with Chennai crossing the finish line with only 14 balls to spare in the end. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was hard to get away with his four overs leaking just six runs while he also claimed the wicket of the dangerous Shane Watson.
“No team wants to start like this but the good thing is a game like this is out of the way. I am pretty happy with the attitude the guys showed in the field,” Kohli said following his side’s loss.
Chahal (l) conceded just six runs from four overs. Image – IPL/Twitter.
“I know the batting effort wasn’t ideal but attitude on the field was great and when our time comes, we will be ready to strike,” he added.
One positive for Bangalore to take from their loss was the impressive speeds touched by pacer Navdeep Saini whose display pleased Kohli.
“He (Saini) is touching 150 clicks which is very promising. He is going to be a lethal weapon. That’s the way we are looking at him,” said Kohli.
Meanwhile, Chennai skipper MS Dhoni was delighted with the winning start made by the defending champions but the veteran wicketkeeper expressed his unhappiness with the Chepauk pitch.
“We were not really sure about the wicket, we played our practice game here but it wasn’t turning that much. I never expected the wicket to play how it played. I think something close to 140 you are looking at. I think the wicket needs to get much better,” said Dhoni.
Chennai will next be in action away to Delhi Capitals on March 26 while Bangalore will have a chance to make amends with a home clash against Mumbai Indians on March 28.
