Virat Kohli takes 'brunt' of defeat vs Punjab; KL Rahul rejoices, heaps praise on Bishnoi

Just as Punjab clinched a clinical victory against Bangalore on Thursday, skipper KL Rahul expressed delight as his side bagged the first two points of the tournament. Rahul remarked that as a leader it is important to lead from the front adding that it has been a complete team performance. On the other hand, disgruntled Virat Kohli took the onus of the defeat and added that the team has learned from its mistakes. 

Speaking at the post-match presentation, winning skipper KL Rahul said, "As a leader it's important to lead from the front. It's a complete team performance, really happy. I told Maxi that I am not feeling completely in control of my batting, he said you must be joking, you are hitting really well. During the toss is the only time I feel like a captain and otherwise I balance being a player and the captain. The analyst, coach and the management will be happy. I watched the U-19 World Cup. He has a lot of fight in him. He's always ready when I throw the ball. He wants to get into the contest." 

Meanwhile, losing skipper Virat Kohli remarked, "Yeah it didn't (go well). I think we were good in the middle phase with the ball, they got off to a decent start and we pulled things back nicely. I have to stand in front and take the brunt of it, not the best day in the office, couple of important chances of KL when he was set and that cost us 35-40 runs at a later stage. Maybe if we restricted them to 180 we wouldn't have been under pressure from ball one of the chase." 

"We know exactly where we went wrong and I have to put my hand up and say a couple of important chances went down. There are days when these kinds of things happen on the cricket field, they happen and we have to accept them. We have had a good game, we have had a bad game and now it is time to move on. Learn from the mistakes we make," Kohli added. 

Mohammad Shami also gave an insight into his preparations as he continues his form. "I have the responsibility to deliver with the new ball, help my bowling partners and try to hit the right areas. We also have a good batting line up and our bowling is more improved this year. It is a young unit with a good mix of experience and even skill wise we are good. Depends on how the wickets are over there (in Sharjah), if there is moisture we will try to bowl full and if it is dry we bowl back of a length. That will be the plan. We can only assess after reaching there and seeing the pitch," Shami said. 

Punjab defeat Bangalore by 97 runs

Bagging their first two points of the season, Punjab defeated Bangalore by a massive margin of 100 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday. Batting first, KL Rahul led his team to a formidable total of 206 off 20 overs. After a stunning batting display, Punjab put up a wonderful show with the ball as they scalped quick wickets in the first three overs giving Bangalore no room to score.