It was a disastrous night for Royal Challengers Bangalore as they were bundled out for just 92 by Kolkata Knight Riders in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 clash in Abu Dhabi on Monday (September 20). While skipper Virat Kohli scored just 5, the bigger disappointment was South African superstar AB de Villiers – dismissed for a golden duck.
De Villiers, who has rescued RCB from several top-order failures, came out to bat at No. 5 in the ninth over. The former South African captain had scored a match-winning 76 in his last outing against KKR. But on Monday, KKR all-rounder Andre Russell sent him packing off the very first delivery he faced, clean bowled by a searing delivery.
With De Villiers being new to the crease, Russell went for a yorker targeted at leg-stump. De Villiers couldn’t land his bat on the yorker and found his timber disturbed. While the KKR camp was over the moon, the Proteas legend looked disappointed while walking back. This was AB de Villiers’ sixth golden duck in IPL.
Watch AB de Villiers’ dismissal by Andre Russell here…
— Simran (@CowCorner9) September 20, 2021
Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli rued his side’s batting collapse in a nine-wicket drubbing by Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL here and termed it a wake-up call for the team. Electing to bat, RCB were all out for a paltry 92 in Kohli's 200th IPL game and KKR chased down the target in just 10 overs by reaching to 94/1 with Shubhman Gill (48) and debutant Venkatesh Iyer (41 not out) adding 82 runs for the opening wicket.
“We were 42 odd for one and then lost about five wickets within 20 runs, which is a very difficult situation to come back from. Bit of a collapse there for us, bit of a wake-up call and might as well have this at the start of the second leg so that we know exactly what we need to work on,” Kohli said after the match.
“It was important to get a good partnership on this surface. You can’t afford to lose four or five wickets within 20 runs. We didn’t expect that much dew to kick in so early, we couldn’t have predicted that.”
Asked if the result was due to rustiness, Kohli said, “You can make the argument that we were rusty but as professional cricketers, you are expected to turn up and adjust to the formats, that's the dynamic of world cricket today.
“We have never found any troubles doing that but sometimes it can take you a game to get into the tournament. You have to stay with the 8-ball, especially in this format. If not, then the other team is going to be all over you.”
