Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Thisara Perera felt his team was in with a chance when RCB dangerman Chris Gayle was dismissed early, before the captain Virat Kohli took over.
“We were very happy to get Gayle’s wicket early in the chase. After that, Virat (Kohli) played a fantastic innings. I think he is the best batsman in the RCB team, the type of player who can turn the match around. Once he got stuck in, we couldn’t control the flow of runs,” Perera said, after his team’s defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore in a Pepsi IPL match here on Tuesday.
The all-rounder felt that the Sunrisers Hyderabad, which made 161 in its 20 overs, fell short on a batsman’s wicket. “I think that 162 is a very gettable target; we needed more than 180 to be able to have a good chance of winning. We are very disappointed,” he said.
RCB paceman R.P. Singh, meanwhile, praised Kohli for playing a “match-winning innings”, but added that the host’s “death over bowling has not been up to the mark”.
