Virat Kohli throws the bottle, kicks the ground in disgust; Siraj lays on ground motionless as Gill crushes RCB’s IPL 2023 Playoffs dream

22 May Virat Kohli throws the bottle, kicks the ground in disgust; Siraj lays on ground motionless as Gill crushes RCB’s IPL 2023 Playoffs dream

Virat Kohli, in IPL, is like an albatross around the neck. He comes in, he studies his opponent, he beats them individually with every last blood of his, but fails to conquer them. After a good start, RCB started collapsing but Kohli stood sturdy and surpassed every obstacle to achieve a defendable total on the board. He surpassed Chris Gayle’s record of most centuries in IPL by hitting his 7th IPL century. When the batting stars like Faf du Plessis who played this tournament on a different level and Mr. 360, Glenn Maxwell failed to deliver, the Indian batting legend showed his calibre by taking the pressure in the most mature way possible. The RCB bowling side failed to deliver in front of the rising star Shubman Gill, who made it look a cakewalk facing one of the season’s best bowling attacks. Mohammad Siraj, Harshal Patel, Wayne Parnell, Himanshu Sharma, Michael Bracewell and Vyshak Vijay Kumar all failed to deliver when it was needed the most. Spurts of individual brilliance notwithstanding, the last IPL 2023 league game showcased that the Challengers remained a boat with more holes than fingers available to plug them all. The Choker’s luck has been a history for the team, going back to the days of Gayle-Kohli-De Villiers which were the most lethal at its time were failed to offset the deficiencies of the incomplete bowling attack. Unless the team has equal hands pushing the deck in unison, the trophy would continue to remain evasive.