We gave about 30 runs extra which did not help: Vyshak

After winning two successive games in this edition of the Indian Premier League, Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered a 21-run defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday, April 26. 

After opting to field first, the home team restricted the Knight Riders to 88 for two in the first ten overs. However, they were dismal in the back end of the innings and allowed the opposition to smash 112 runs in the last 60 deliveries and take the total to 200 runs in the first innings. 

Despite a valiant half-century from Virat Kohli, the Royal Challengers fell short by 21 runs, succumbing to their fourth loss in eight games. In the post-match press conference, Vyshak Vijaykumar shared his views on the game and the performance of the game.

"Gutted about the performance, and I feel we probably had them till the 17th over. A couple of catches were dropped, and we gave about 30 runs extra which did not help."

"We started off really well with the bat in the first couple of overs but ended up losing a lot of wickets, and hence the result did not go our way," he said.  

The right-arm pacer also felt the team was unlucky in the run chase as plenty of poor deliveries by the Knight Riders spinners were hit straight to the fielders in the deep.

"I don't know about the batting plan, but we always play Bold. It does not matter who is bowling, and if it is a bad ball, then it has to be punished. A couple of balls were meant to be hit, and it was just unlucky that we hit it straight to the fielder," he said. 

The Karnataka player also credited the role of Mohammed Siraj in the powerplay and believed this game was one of the off days for the bowling unit. 

"Siraj is bowling really well, and the plan is to bowl it upfront and allow the ball to swing. Today was one of those days where the ball did not swing much, and that is the reason he went for runs."

"We have been doing really well in the powerplay, and this was just one of those games were we couldn't get the breakthrough. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore will play five away fixtures starting with an evening encounter against Lucknow Super Giants on Monday, May 1.