'It's a mixed bag': Virat Kohli after Bangalore consolidate playoff berth despite a loss

Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli termed team's performance as a 'mixed bag' after ir loss at hands of Delhi in Dream11 IPL 2020 league match at Sheikh Zayed Stium, Abu Dhabi on Monday. 

three-time finalists were restricted to 152/7 in ir 20 overs after being asked to bat by Delhi skipper Shreyas Iyer. In reply, Delhi got job done by 6 wickets and an over to spare.

Shreyas Iyer & Co. will w face title-holders Mumbai in Qualifier 1 on Thursday while Bangalore will face eir Kolkata or Hyderab in Eliminator on Friday. 

'It's a mixed bag': Virat Kohli

"It's a mixed bag. As I said at toss, you come to games to try and get result your way. Through 11th over, 17.3 mark was informed by manment. I think we controlled middle phase really well and y could've taken game away from us. We are happy that we've qualified. Top two would've been really very nice. But I think we've played good eugh cricket to earn a qualification spot. You could say just before qualification, mindset was a little bit tentative. We've got two games to reach final. We have a shot, an opportunity and that's all we want as a team. I'm sure guys will be excited about what's ahe for us. We can be braver with bat in pockets. With ball, we were decent, probably we could have a strong Powerplay which is our strength. If we implement those things, we'll be at right end of result. It's important to stay positive. re are going to be learnings along way, but we are are gl that we are through. We'll have to assess what's happening, hopefully, y'll (Chris Morris and Navdeep Saini) be fine by time we play our next game. And see how y go in next few days", said Kohli during post-match interview.

His opposite number Shreyas Iyer said that he was 'very chuffed' with performance.

"Very chuffed with performance. We knew it was a do-or-die and an opportunity for us to get to second spot. We were really motivated. teams winning in latter half completely changed scenario of table and it was really commendable. Really happy with how tournament has gone so far. bowlers were really up with ir plans and y knew what y h to execute. rtje was really good and it worked out pretty well. Kudos to way bowlers bowled. We are one of best teams in tournament and we need to stick to basics and if we try and execute our plans, results will come", said Iyer.

Anrich rtje, who was judged Man of Match for his brilliant bowling performance, said that it was all about getting basics right and t something special from one guy.

"I said it time and time again. It's just doing basics right and wasn't about something special from one guy. Coming into this game, small things started feeling better and I think those small things, once you get that right, you get your rhythm. We were thinking to make m hit to bigger boundary and stick to our plans against each batsman. re was little bit of dew at end of our innings and we tried t to be predictable. Yorker would have been obvious option and we wanted to change it and see how it goes and wanted to hit hard length. Having a bit of extra pace always helps. All rey for playoffs", he said.

(Im Courtesy: IPL Twitter)