IPL 2023 | RCB vs KKR: Talking Points & Who Said What?

image-lgy2m6gyVirat Kohli walking back disappointed against KKR (AP Photo)

The matches at M. Chinnaswamy are always exciting due to the high-scoring nature of the surface there and once again the RCB-KKR game turned out be a run-feast. However, the jam-packed crowd assembled at M. Chinnaswamy cheering for RCB were left disappointed as KKR put together a strong all-round performance to beat RCB at their home by 21 runs.

Let us now look at the Talking Points of this exciting RCB vs KKR Clash

Catches Win Matches - KKR teaches a hard lesson to RCB

In cricket, it is often said that 'catches win matches' and often the difference between the winning and losing side is how they have hold onto their chances on the field. That was exactly the case in this game as the catching of the two sides made all the difference in the end. 

Nitish Rana, the KKR skipper was dropped twice, once each by Siraj and Harshal Patel which were absolutely straightforward catches and that proved costly as the KKR skipper smashed 48 off 21 balls. There were also some other chances which were comparatively tougher but still expected to be taken at the level IPL operates and as Virat Kohli mentioned in his post match interview, it cost RCB 25-30 runs.

Kohli himself fell prey to other extreme while batting as Venkatesh Iyer pulled off a stunner of a catch to dismiss well-set Virat Kohli producing a game-changing moment.

RCB's Over Dependency on Big Three - Virat, Faf, Maxwell

RCB have always been over dependent on their star batters. Some years ago, it was Virat Kohli-Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers and now Faf du Plessis and Maxwell have replaced Gayle and AB. These overdepency has haunted them in the past and it is haunting them still, as they rarely win games when two of these big three fail.

Prior to this RCB-KKR game, Virat-Faf-Maxwell together scored 937 runs - 78.6 per cent of total runs scored by RCB this season. The rest of the batters have managed just 255 runs. Unless, RCB solve this issue out, they are bound to struggle.

The KKR Spin Choke Haunts RCB Again

Kolkata Knight Riders are known for their mystery spin twins and their stellar performances over the years against RCB. This season, they have added another young leggie to that arsenal making life more difficult for RCB and that showed in the results of both RCB-KKR games this season.

At the Eden Gardens, RCB lost to KKR by a huge margin of 81 runs as they were bundled out for just 123 while chasing 205. The three spinners picked 9 wickets between them in that game with Varun Chakaravarthy picking four-fer. The story at M. Chinnaswamy was not much different as RCB lost by 21 runs while chasing 201 with KKR spinners picking five wickets out of the 8 that RCB lost. We have seen RCB crumbling against KKR in the past too and the spin choke was more often that not a major reason for it.

Who Said What?

Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore Captain)

"To be honest, we handed over the game to them. We didn't deserve to win. We weren't professional tonight. We bowled decently but dropped too many chances. This is not ideal because we pride ourselves on the way we play. Today it was not good, to be honest. We didn't capitalize on the crunch moments. We dropped chances and that cost us 25-30 runs."


Nitish Rana (Kolkata Knight Riders Captain)

"I have been talking in the last few games' tosses that if we do well in all the three phases- batting, bowling and fielding we will cross the line. Absolutely sir, the scenes around the dressing room have been good. We are in a good phase now. We have a lot of character in the dressing room now and you need the courage to bounce back from those losses."


Varun Chakaravarthy (Player of the Match)

"I don't want to add more variations but I want to be accurate.I would like to credit this to my new born son. I haven't seen him yet but I want to thank him and my wife. I will go and meet him after the IPL."