Virat Kohli openly admitted that Royal Challengers Bangalore lost the game to the visitors in an explosive statement after RCB suffered their fourth home defeat of the season. In the 16th season of the cash-rich league, Kohli, who has captained RCB for the third time in a row this season, blamed Bangalore’s sloppy fielding and soft dismissals for their recent defeat to the two-time champions.

“To be honest we handed over the game to them. We deserved to lose. We weren’t professional enough. We bowled well but fielding was not up to standard. This was a freebie handed over to them. In the field, we dropped two chances that cost us 25-30 runs. When batting, we set ourselves up very well, but then (suffered) four-five soft dismissals,”

Kohli said at the post-match presentation.

During the high-scoring match between Bangalore and Kolkata at the high-scoring Chinnaswamy Stadium, Virat Kohli played a determined innings of 54 off 37 balls to keep RCB in contention

However, Kohli’s heroics in the field were in vain as RCB only reached 179-8 while chasing the massive 200 runs in 20 overs. Faf du Plessis’ RCB side is placed fifth on the IPL 2023 focuses table after their 21-run rout on account of Kolkata.

“Not wicket-taking balls, but we hit straight to the fielders. Even while chasing, after losing wickets, one partnership brought us back in the game. We were one partnership short. We need to stay switched on, and not give away soft plays. We have won one and lost one on the road. It is not something that is making us nervous. We need to win some away games to be in good shape for the later stages of the tournament,”

the stand-in RCB skipper added. Kohli-starrer Royal Challengers Bangalore will next meet KL Rahul’s Lucknow Super Giants in the 43rd match of the IPL 2023 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Monday.