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‘Can’t depend only on Virat Kohli, du Plessis': Sehwag slams Dinesh Karthik and Glenn Maxwell for RCB collapse vs KKR
Virender Sehwag said RCB can't rely on only Kohli and du Plessis to score runs. He said Dinesh Karthik and Glenn Maxwell will have to step up and perform.
Royal Challengers Bangalore have had two extremes in IPL 2023 so far. They displayed a near-perfect performance against the Mumbai Indians to kickstart their campaign with a commanding 8-wicket victory. Virat Kohli (82* off 49) and Faf du Plessis (73* off 43) made a mockery of the 173-run target after leg-spinner Karn provided the goods with the ball. Cut to Thursday, RCB received a hammering in the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders, losing their second match by 81 runs.
They were well and truly on top of the game when KKR were at 89/5 but Shardul Thakur and Rinku Singh came out of the syllabus. They stitched a counter-attacking 103-run stand in just 7.4 overs to power KKR to 204/7 - the highest score by a team in the IPL after losing their top five inside 100.
In reply, Kohli and du Plessis started well against seamers Umesh Yadav and Tim Southee but the moment KKR captain Nitish Rana threw the ball to spinners, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, they were all at sea. Chakravrthy got du Plessis and Narine cleaned up Kohli with a beauty.
Watch: SRK grabs Kohli after KKR crush RCB, makes him dance to ‘Pathaan’ song
Once Kohli and du Plessis were dismissed, Narine and Chakravarthy and debutant Suyash Sharma were all over RCB. Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, and Dinesh Karthik came and went as the RCB batting unit fell like a pack of cards. The KKR spinners picked up nine wickets to bowl RCB out for 123.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag said RCB can't rely on only Kohli and du Plessis to score runs. He said Karthik and Maxwell will have to step up and perform.
"You can't depend on just two players. It's like only when Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis play well RCB will win. This can't happen. Glenn Maxwell has to contribute. Dinesh Karthik has to contribute. The others will have to chip in. Even Anuj Rawaj, who came in as an Impact Player, needs to do well. RCB needs to look if there are any better options available than him," Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
He also pointed out that Rajat Patidar's injury has cost RCB dearly. "Rajat Patidar was one man who scored a lot of runs for RCB last year and smashed a century too. He impressed a lot so his injury appears to have jolted RCB a lot," he added.
Sehwag, however, said it's a good thing that such a batting collapse has happened at the start of the tournament as RCB will have an opportunity to bounce back.
"The type of game RCB has played will happen to every team in this tournament. One batting collapse happens to everybody, that is the history of IPL. Somebody will have this collapse at the start of the tournament, some towards the end. It's good that this happened to RCB in the second itself. If this had happened after 8-9 matches in the league then it would have made a huge difference in the points table because of a poor net run rate. Then you might have been left with no option but to win all of your remaining matches to qualify. But now they still have a chance to make a comeback."
