“He has experienced these highs and lows many times before, will emerge out from it,” says Bangar

There was grief on the face of Virat Kohli that has become quite familiar after the star batter was asked to open against Rajasthan Royals in their last clash, a decision that did little to change his dipping fortune.

The grief has been seen on the face of Virat Kohli that has become quite familiar after the star batter was asked to open against Rajasthan Royals in their last clash, a decision that did little to change his dipping fortune.

After a two first-ball duck, Kohli made a struggling 9 runs against their opponent, which was his fifth single-digit score in the season before being dismissed in an unfortunate manner off Prasidh Krishna.

Kohli’s early dismissal set in order another poor batting display for Royal Challengers Bangalore, who summed up their innings on 115, the lowest second-innings total of the season following their first lowest innings total of 68 in the last game.

RCB’s head coach Sanjay Bangar accepted that Kohli-led top-order was a big concern but he backed his most experienced batter to come back stronger before the end of Indian Premier League 2022.

“We’ve all seen that negotiating the new ball is a challenge for most of the teams,”

Bangar said. 

“Whenever we lose early wickets, we sort of lose them in clusters and that’s what is pulling the team back, and [we are] rightly [losing] games that we should have won. That’s why we are not able to finish the job.

“Regarding Kohli’s form, he’s a great cricketer. He’s experienced these highs and lows many times before. I’ve observed him from close quarters. He has the spirit and he’ll emerge from these run of low scores in the last few games. In the coming crucial games, he’ll help us win,”

Bangar added.

“We aren’t talking about anything different [in practice], to be honest. The way he prepares, he always puts himself out of his comfort zone and prepares and that’s his specialty. This is why he can emerge from tough situations and his attitude is commendable. Yes, he’s had a low run of scores but he is so mentally strong, he’ll be able to put in a better performance.”

Kohli has shifted up the order as a reason for low-scoring streaks for Anuj Rawat who made 66 against Mumbai Indians and 63 in seven other innings as Faf du Plessis’s other pair. Bangar said that shifting Kohli up at the order was to see their best batter come back in the business early.

The former skipper batting at the top-order after being out of form had consequences for the rest of the RCB line-up, resulting in the low totals that RCB has managed in the last two games.

Glenn Maxwell, the power-hitter against spin in the middle-overs, had to face the seamers in the middle-order and had quite misfired innings. Bangar, however, gave the opinion that the team should not depend on one person to deliver.

“Frankly we’re not dependent on one individual. Because if you see the games we’ve won, everyone’s chipped in and that includes Virat in a couple of games earlier in the season. It’s not that the team is dependent on one individual.

“That’s what we’re really looking to develop so that anyone on his day can rise to the occasion and win the game for the team. We’ve already seen glimpses of Shahbaz [Ahmed] who can do that. DK [Dinesh Karthik], Faf, and even Maxwell have done it. Wickets have been difficult to bat in the first six overs and most top-order batters have struggled. But if we get that thing right, you’ll certainly see better performances from us.”