Virat Kohli, while speaking in one of the recent episodes of the RCB Podcast, went on to reveal how the IPL 2016 Final loss still woes him. It was for the first time under Kohli’s Captaincy that the team had reached the Finals of the competition but fell short of 8 runs in the end.
RCB has reached the IPL Finals three times and Kohli has been a part of the team in all those campaigns. Out of his 14-year long association with RCB, a match that still hurts Kohli, as stated by him, is the loss against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Final of the 9th edition of IPL. The 33-year old stated, while talking in the podcast, that missing the chance of winning the maiden title after getting that close stills hurts him and KL Rahul.
“The final, I feel like it was written, how could the finals be in Bangalore, after we play that kind of a season, and we are playing that kind of a game at 100-0 after 9 overs. To this date, KL takes screenshots of that game when it is broadcasted, and says it still hurts. And it does hurt to an extent.”
A star-packed RCB side outplayed by SRH in the IPL 2016 Final
It was the year when RCB had some big names like Chris Gayle, Ab de Villiers, Shane Watson, KL Rahul altogether, alongside the then Captain Virat Kohli in the side. It was also the year when Kohli had smacked a record 4 centuries in a single season of the league. He was also adjudged the Player of the tournament for the 973 runs he scored that season, a number so huge, no one else comes close to touching in a single season.
SRH had a good finish to their innings as Shane Watson conceded 24 runs in the 20th over. This propelled the SRH total to 208 runs. In reply, RCB had a great start with a 114-run opening stand in just 10.2 overs. Things started to change after the first wicket fell, RCB kept losing wickets in succession thereon and never came back. The side could only manage 200 runs in their 20 overs.
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“Not winning a title as captain disappoints me”- Virat Kohli
Kohli admitted that they had the opportunity and weren’t good enough on the day of the finals. Missing out so narrowly from lifting the IPL trophy as a captain also disappoints him, he said.
“Not winning a title as captain disappoints me, I would say we had opportunities, where we came close. We have to accept the fact that the reason we have not won is because we have not been as courageous, or as clear in our plans as we should have been in those moments”, said Kohli.
He recalled that though the team had lost some games, the belief amongst the players never went away.
“That season was obviously unbelievable, four guys performing at their peak, game in game out, very rare to see that in T20 cricket. We felt like, even though we were not doing well in the season, we could make it. The belief never went away, which I think is very difficult to create.”