IPL 2021: Brian Lara dissects Kohli’s dismissal against KKR, highlights his flaw

Royal Challengers Bangalore made a far from an ideal start of the UAE leg of the Indian Premier League, losing their restart encounter by 9 wickets after being skittled out for a paltry 92 runs. In stark contrast to how RCB performed with the bat, their rivals Kolkata Knight Riders eased the chase, with their openers Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer scoring quickly to take their team to a victory with a massive 10 overs to spare.

Much like RCB coach Mike Hesson, who stated that Virat Kohli decision to step down as the RCB skipper after this season did not have any effect on the team’s game, former West Indies legend Brian Lara feels that RCB’s loss was down to only poor cricket.

“It was a poor performance from RCB. Take nothing away from KKR. We know KKR is a very good outfit. They’ve got their issues. They played poorly in the first half of the tournament,” Lara told Cricket.com.

“Don’t know if Virat Kohli’s decision could be bit of a disturbance. I don’t believe so. As a group of professionals, they would want to win this year, he would want to win this year. It’s too early to say if such an announcement can have an adverse effect on your team.”

“They were outgunned by a team that we all know, when they are at their very best, it would be very difficult to keep them out,” he added.

Brian Lara points out Virat Kohli’s flaw

Lara further dissected Kohli’s dismissal and highlighted his flaw. “In the World Cup 2019 semi-final against New Zealand, LBW again – you look his head position. The ball before (vs KKR) he struck it through extra-cover – maybe the best shot of the match. Head was on top of the ball. The next delivery, his head was almost in the same position as the previous ball, but the line was completely different – it was coming down from middle and off, angling into middle and leg,” Lara said.

“That is an issue we know that a lot of right-handed batsmen, get on the front foot and fall over. Just need to maybe wait a little bit longer, keep a stiller head and have that balance so that you can go down the track, instead of going towards the off stump when the ball is angled towards leg,” he added.

RCB next play table-toppers Chennai Super Kings on September 24.