It felt great, Virat Kohli admitted at the presentation ceremony in Kolkata on Friday, that he didn’t have to do the losing captain’s post-match interview as he walked off the field.
RCB appeared to have grown accustomed to failure but that 10-run win at Eden Gardens — only the second of the season — will have lifted spirits in the camp. Even if qualification for the playoffs is unlikely, RCB will aim — as the captain keeps insisting — to enjoy the rest of the tournament.
Up next for Kohli’s men is a meeting with Chennai Super Kings at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday. The defending champion arrives in the city fresh off a rare defeat — only the campaign’s second — in Hyderabad.
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Complacent
Its batsmen were strangled, and later its bowlers simply wilted in the face of David Warner’s assault. There were suggestions that the team, with qualification for the playoffs more or less certain, was complacent, and it will be interesting to see how CSK’s players respond.
M.S. Dhoni did not feature against SRH, having been rested with a back spasm, while Dwayne Bravo has been out of action since April 3 owing to a hamstring strain. Both players trained on match-eve; a decision on their participation would be made on Sunday, coach Stephen Fleming said.
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RCB, meanwhile, has injury concerns of its own. A.B. de Villiers missed the last game with a concussion; the team is hopeful he will recover in time for this fixture. The South African’s absence did not seem to trouble the side against KKR, though. Kohli led from the front with a hundred, exploding after a scratchy start, while Moeen Ali provided a stunning injection of life in the middle order, scoring a 28-ball-66.
Far from easy
RCB bludgeoned 91 off the last five overs in Kolkata, but repeating such a performance against one of the league’s best bowling attacks will be far from easy.
Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar and Ravindra Jadeja have been frugal and incisive this season and will test batsmen on most surfaces. RCB’s own bowling was not particularly convincing on Friday but Dale Steyn’s addition made a difference, as the South African struck twice in the PowerPlay overs.
Squads
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), Parthiv Patel, AB de Villiers, Colin de Grandhomme, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Moeen Ali, Shimron Hetmyer, Dale Steyn, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Devdutt Padikkal, Himmat Singh, Milind Kumar, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Heinrich Klaasen, Pawan Negi, Washington Sundar, Akshdeep Nath, Prayas Ray Barman, Kulwant Khejroliya, Tim Southee.
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (captain & WK), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav, Sam Billings, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Shorey, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Rituraj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Sharma, K M Asif, Deepak Chahar, N Jagadeesan (wk), Scott Kuggeleijn.
Match starts 8 pm.