Don’t write off champions: Nathan Lyon on Kohli’s recent batting slump
The Australian team must be hoping to take advantage of Virat Kohli’s prolonged batting slump when the two sides clash in the five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar trophy
In the 10th game of the 11th season of Indian Premier League on 15 April, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to field first at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
After winning the toss, Kohli said: “We’re going to bowl first today as well. As we saw last year, batting first in the afternoon would be a bit tricky. The team is feeling good; the wicket would play much better batting second, especially when one big partnership takes you through.”
“This has become a challenging ground and we’re happy to play the waiting game. Momentum is hard to gain, we understand that one game is enough to give you that. Rajasthan are coming off a win too and we need to be brave while making our decisions. Just one change – Pawan Negi comes in for Sarfaraz.”
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Captain @imVkohli wins the toss and elects to bowl first against the @rajasthanroyals #RCBvRR pic.twitter.com/Ynyvl3VBYW
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 15, 2018
After the toss, Ajinkya Rahane said: “We were looking to bowl first as well. But it doesn’t matter; you need to start and end well. T20 is all about giving your best in every over and take it from there. It is all about believing in ourselves and focus on things we can control. Our bowlers did a fantastic job in the last two games, despite all that people say about T20 being a batsman’s game. We’re playing with the same team.”
Teams:
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane(c), D Arcy Short, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler(w), Rahul Tripathi, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Ben Laughlin
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Brendon McCullum, Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers, Mandeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Chris Woakes, Pawan Negi, Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal
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