Legendary India batter Virender Sehwag lashed out at Royal Challengers batters after their disappointing show against Kokata Knight Riders in their second IPL 2023 match that took place at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday. Sehwag also pointed out that the team's batting couldn't just rely on their openers Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis. Chasing a total of 205 against KKR, RCB were bundled out for 123 runs in 17.4 overs as Kohli and du Plessis scored only 21 and 23 runs, respectively.
RCB had earlier started its IPL 2023 campaign on a dominating note as it had crushed Mumbai Indians by 8 wickets. In pursuit of 172 runs, RCB openers Kohli and du Plessis had stitched 148 runs for the opening wicket to help the side ease past MI. However, the duo failed to provide a similar start against KKR and that affected RCB badly.
"You can't depend on just two players. It's like only when Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli play well RCB will win. This can't happen. Glenn Maxwell has to contribute. Dinesh Karthik has to contribute. The others will have to chip in," Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
Despite RCB's poor show, Sehwag backed them to bounce back in the tournament.
"The type of game Banglaore (RCB) has played will happen to every team in this tournament. One batting collapse happens to everybody, that is the history of IPL. It's good that this happened to RCB early in the tournament. If this had happened after 8 to 9 matches in the league then it would have made a huge difference in the points table because of a poor net run rate. Then you might have been left with no option but to win all of your remaining matches to qualify. But now they still have a chance to make a comeback."