Royal Challengers Bengaluru impact player Vyshak Vijay Kumar on Friday claimed that conceding too many runs in the power play proved to be the difference as RCB succumbed to their second defeat of IPL 2024 at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders. Vyshak Vijay Kumar came on as an impact player in the second innings for RCB and produced an economical performance, only conceding 23 runs in 4 overs and taking the wicket of Phil Salt.
KKR win successive games
Batting first, RCB scored 182 courtesy of Virat Kohli. The Indian batter scored his second consecutive half-century to help reach RCB reach a respectable total. In reply, KKR went all guns blazing in the powerplay, with Sunil Narine and Phil Salt scoring 80 runs in the first 6 overs. Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer finished the job for the Knights, handing them their second win of IPL 2024.
Vyshak Vijay Kumar’s strategy
Vyshak Vijay Kumar was asked about his bowling strategy in the post-match press conference. “In the first innings, they mixed it up very well. It was difficult to score from their bouncers, slower ones. I knew that if I put it there, nobody could score. I just thought I’ll do that, mix up my variations with some yorkers, hard lengths and bouncers. I was just trying to mix up with the pace, I think that’s what helped me,” he said.
“I’ve been learning from all the new players coming in. Working together with players such as Alzarri, Wiese, Green and Lockie has helped my bowling quite a bit. It was a little easier to bat in the second innings, as the ball was coming on to the bat nicely because of the dew. We also had a bit more pace them, so it helped them,” he added.
Powerplay the culprit
Vijay Kumar also asserted that giving away 80 odd runs in the powerplay ultimately cost RCB the game. “In the last game too, it was easier to chase. We put up a good score on this wicket because it was really slow in the first innings. In the first 6 overs, they came really hard at us and maybe that’s the one that made a difference,” he said.
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