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IPL: Virat Kohli’s captaincy ends as RCB crash out

RCB captain Virat KOhli reacts during the eliminator match against KKR in IPL 2021 in Sharjah on Monday, October 11, 2021. (ANI Photo)

By: Shubham Ghosh

VIRAT Kohli’s nine-season-long captaincy for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) came to an unimpressive end on Monday (11) when his team lost to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by four wickets in the eliminator of the 2021 edition to finish yet another unsuccessful campaign.

Winning the toss and batting first, Bangalore managed a modest total of 138 for 7 in their allotted 20 overs – a target which Kolkata overhauled in the final over with four wickets to spare. It was after three years that KKR made the qualifier in the IPL and will now take on 2020 runners-up Delhi Capitals in the second qualifier in Sharjah on Wednesday (13). Chennai Super Kings have made the final with a four-wicket win over Delhi in Dubai on Sunday (10).

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Kohli (39 off 33 balls) and Devdutt Padikkal (21 off 18) gave RCB a decent start after Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first. But after Kohli fell in the 13th over, RCB’s big guns – Glenn Maxwell (15 off 18) and AB de Villiers (11 off 9) failed to fire and that pegged them back. After Sunil Narine dismissed those two in quick time, RCB lost chances of posting a big total and had to settle at 138 for 7. Narine produced an excellent spell to take four wickets for 21 runs in four overs while Lockie Ferguson took two for 30.

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For KKR, a number of batsmen had starts but could not convert them into big scores but that did not stop them from reaching the target. Openers Shubman Gill made 29 off 18 and Venkatesh Iyer 26 off 30 while Nitish Rana scored 23 off 25. But it was Narine again who delivered with the bat as well by making 26 off just 15 to give KKR the edge and the finishing touches were given by captain Eoin Morgan (5 not out off 7) and Shakib Al Hasan (9 not out off 6). For RCB, pacers Mohammed Siraj and Harshal Patel and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took two wickets.

Narine was adjudged the player of the match for his all-round show.

After the game, Kohli said it was time to regroup for the RCB and that he would play for the franchise. “I have given my 120% to this franchise and will continue giving it as a player on the field. It’s a great time to regroup and restructure the franchise for the next three years. I will definitely (play for RCB). For me loyalty matters and my commitment is with this franchise till the last day I play IPL,” he said. Kohli announced his decision to step down as the RCB captain recently, days after revealing his decision to quit Team India’s T20 captaincy after the World Cup starting this month.

Kohli could take RCB to the final of the IPL only once — in 2016 — but narrowly lost the match to Sunrisers Hyderabad.

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