Bengaluru, April 18 (IANS) Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batting coach Dinesh Karthik believes his side punched above their weight with the ball and made 175-run total feel like 190 despite ending up on the losing side against Delhi Capitals (DC) in a last-over thriller.

RCB posted 175/8 after being put in to bat, with Phil Salt leading the charge with a brisk 63. However, the innings lost momentum in the final phase, as DC’s bowlers executed their plans well to concede just 29 runs in the last five overs.

RCB responded strongly with the ball. Bhuvneshwar Kumar led the early charge with three wickets in the powerplay, reducing DC to 18/3 and putting them firmly on top. However, the game slipped away in the final over when David Miller produced a stunning finish, smashing two sixes and a boundary to seal the win for DC.

‘We made 175 feel like 190, which is all you can do; at no point did we feel that we were run short. We just wanted to fight with what we have. The fighting spirit and attitude shown were very encouraging for us as a team,” he said in a video released by the franchise on X.

“It was a tough pitch to bat, and we played quite well for about 75% of the innings. But yes, in the last five overs we probably didn’t get as many runs as we wanted,” Karthik admitted. “But we bowled so well, we fielded our skin out, we did everything possible, showed the kind of commitment that players have towards the team.”

“Krunal and Hazlewood’s overs were so good, and the 19th over was on point. We tried to take it as deep as possible. But towards the end, we got two great batters who came in and absolutely smashed it. And that happens in a T20 game,” Karthik added.

Despite the loss, RCB continued to stay in second position with four wins in six matches. They will next face the Gujarat Titans (GT) on April 24.

–IANS

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