A livid Virat Kohli was left hugely disappointed by his side’s performance at home against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Wednesday as he claimed, in the aftermath of the 21-run loss, that his side ‘handed KKR the game’.

Stand-in captain Kohli opted to bowl after winning the toss but a sloppy showing on the field saw his side concede 200 in the first innings, at least 20 more than they ideally should have. The pacers were uncharacteristically off the money, but there were also two drop catches, by Siraj and Harshal Patel respectively. 

And then in the second innings, a lackluster showing meant that the home side could only get to 179. Kohli didn’t mince his words, and rued RCB not capitalizing on openings.

“To be honest we handed them the game. We did deserve to lose,” Kohli said at the presentation.

“We handed them a victory. We were certainly not up to standard. If you look at the game, we didn't capitalize our chances. We dropped a few chances which cost us 25-30 runs. We set up ourselves really well. 

“We ended up hitting the fielder to balls which weren't wicket taking. It is what's on the scoreboard and how to get them.”

RCB fell 21 runs short and Kohli bemoaned the lack of partnerships. On the night, Kohli’s men had a solitary fifty-run stand and were guilty of throwing away wickets at regular intervals.

“Even while chasing, despite losing wickets we were one partnership away from being in the game. We needed one partnership to get us home. We need to be switched on and not give away soft plays,” Kohli said.

The upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka means that RCB will not play again at the Chinnaswamy till May 21st. Each of RCB’s next five matches will be played away from home. But Kohli played down the daunting prospect of playing five consecutive away games, and asserted that his side will be up for the challenge.

“We have won one and lost one on the road. It is not something that is making us nervous. We need to win some away games to be in good shape for the later stages of the tournament.”

RCB have a four-day break, before taking on the Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow on May 1st.