When you drop Kohli in a chase, it becomes difficult, says Nayar

Kolkata Knight Riders coach Abhishek Nayar admitted that dropping Virat Kohli early in his innings proved costly, as the batting stalwart went on to score an unbeaten century and power Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a six-wicket win in their latest IPL match.

Kohli was dropped on 21 by Rovman Powell off Kartik Tyagi, which proved decisive as the master batter went on to strike an unbeaten 105 off 60 to guide RCB to the top of the standings on Wednesday night.

Chasing 193, Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal (39) forged a robust 92-run stand for the second-wicket.

“When you drop Virat Kohli, especially in a chase, it becomes very difficult,” Nayar said at the post-match press conference.

Nayar felt KKR had enough runs on the board but the game slipped away from their hands because of small mistakes.

“As I said earlier, the score was fine on this pitch. There are a lot of things that could have been better. Virat’s catch was a very tough one. The Angkrish catch, you would expect him to take.”

The coach also believed the absence of Varun Chakravarthy, who missed the game due to a toe injury, hurt KKR.

“At the end of the day, cricket works like that. If we had another 10-15 runs, maybe the game changes. If those catches are taken, maybe the game changes. If Varun Chakravarthy plays, maybe the game changes,” Nayar said.

KKR relies heavily on the spin duo of Sunil Narine and Chakravarthy, and Nayar admitted to that.

“It is an open secret that we have done really well with the Sunny-Varun combination. It is unfortunate that we have missed him a lot this season,” Nayar said.

“This is the second time he has had a fracture, which is unfortunate for him. You will always miss a Varun Chakravarthy.”

The defeat, notwithstanding, Nayar backed his batting unit for posting a competitive total.

“Midway through the innings, we felt anywhere between 180 and 200 would be a good score. There was no dew as well, so that was not a factor,” he said.

Nayar praised Angkrish Raghuvanshi for his 71 off 46 balls.

“I was very impressed with the way he batted because the ball was really nipping around early on. Hazlewood and Bhuvi are world-class bowlers,” Nayar said.

“At no point did he look uncomfortable. He looked like he belonged there.”

Meanwhile, RCB’s top-order batter Padikkal was in awe of Kohli’s match-winning century, saying he had the best seat in the house to witness the star’s exploits.

“It was incredible to watch. I think I had the best seat in the house tonight. Some of the shots he (Kohli) played were simply remarkable, obviously coming into this game after two ducks was never easy and he showed who he is. He just went out and batted the way he does and really happy to see him get those runs,” he said.

“Honestly it doesn’t really change anything, everyone who is here comes out to perform, no one scores ducks and hundreds in every game and that is part of the game and he (Kohli) understands that better than anybody else. He has always bounced back and got runs and he showed why he is one of the best in business today.”

Padikkal said the wicket was good for batters.

“It was a pretty good wicket, obviously the previous game was a little bit tacky, little bit up and down. It had a little bit for the pacers initially with the new ball, but as soon as the initial swing died down, it was a pretty good wicket to bat on.

“Anything under 200 these days feels like a chaseable target, that’s how the game has evolved,” he said.