Bengaluru, April 30: Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli said on Sunday (April 29) the team was not trying hard enough for wins in this edition of the IPL after stumbling to a six-wicket defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders.
"If we look back, we didn't deserve to win. I don't think we're trying hard enough, we need to be hard on ourselves," said Kohli after the match.
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"The pitch is bringing out surprises every time we play here. 175 was a really good score, we were thinking of 165 at one stage after those wickets, so 10 was a bonus.
"But 11 of us need to come together and bring that excitement on to the field. We don't deserve to win if we field like that. We can't afford to field like that and let singles go to boundaries. We were just not good enough tonight. I can't pin point anything right now, we need to win six out of seven to qualify from here.
"We need to be in that mindset to take every match as as virtual semifinal from now. There's no room for lapses, complacency or hesitation. We need our guys stepping up and hopefully the guys can put up a better show," said Kohli.
The Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik was quite happy about the KKR effort and where they are at this stage in the IPL.
"It always feels better to win. Nothing too special about where we are, nothing bad about being in the middle of the table, we need to use some momentum from here. I thought it was a par sore, they batted really well and we knew Virat was the big wicket we needed in AB's absence. He came all guns blazing."
The @KKRiders boys all smiles for the #IPLSelfie at Bengaluru. pic.twitter.com/9W7AWQfI8m
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 29, 2018
Despite losing their previous match against Delhi Daredevils, the KKR did not make any changes to the line-up.
Karthik detailed the motive. "I beleive we need to have a strong core and trust them. I've felt that you need to trust the players that are part of the XI. They're great kids (Shivam Mavi and Shubman Gill) and they're learning, they have good things to talk, lots of credit to Rahul (Dravid) as well," he said.
Man of the match Chris Lynn said: "I've had to grind out some runs this season. Definitely got to use the sweep in this part of the world especially against spin bowling. Whatever scenario comes, I'm going to play it by the ear. The body is getting there, been a tough schedule and I'm chipping away."