IPL 2020: Delhi Capitals tough to beat but not unbeatable, says Virat Kohli after RCB's loss

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli heaped praise on Delhi Capitals (DC) after Shreyas Iyer's side defeated RCB by 59 runs on Monday in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

After being asked to bat first, DC posted 196 for 4 in 20 overs. Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan gave Delhi the required start as they posted 50+plus runs for the opening stand. RCB pacer Mohammed Siraj broke the partnership by dismissing Shaw in the seventh over, leaving DC at 68 for 1. While Dhawan contributed 32 from 28 balls, Rishabh Pant produced a cameo of 37 from 25 balls. Marcus Stoinis remained unbeaten on 53 from 26 balls and powered DC to 196 in the first innings.

Even though Delhi produced some sloppy fielding initially as they spilled many catches, Iyer's boys bounced back in time to derail RCB's batting line-up.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Kohli termed DC's line-up as a

balanced side and praised the batters to be fearless. "Their batting line up is fearless, they have a good balance in the side, their bowling line up is pretty good too and they will be hard to beat, I wouldn't say unbeatable but they are a tough side to beat. Against such sides we have to bring our A-game and top intensity which I don't think we did tonight," added Kohli in the same interview.

The Idian skipper also admitted that the bowling plans of his side could have been better in the end, where DC scored 35 runs in the final three overs.

"I think they got off to a great start in the first six then we pulled it back in the next 8 overs and the last phase again got away from us. Those important chances in between, we need to grab when the opportunity comes our way, it is not like we are dropping half chances, we are dropping sitters and those things hurt you.

The execution with the ball towards the end could have been better and with the bat as well. Not a complete performance in any regard today. We were quite aggressive with the new ball, Prithvi and Shikhar batted really well. I think Prithvi took the game on and we expected that, we kept a catching position and even tried to pick a wicket with the spinner. We got into the game after the first six and then Stoinis batted really well in the end, we gave him a life, he took the game away from us," explained Kohli.

The RCB skipper revealed that South African all-rounder Chris Morris was close to playing for RCB on Monday, but could not make it. However, Morris is expected to play in their next game, which is against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Dubai and is still four days away.

"Chris (Morris) was really close to playing today as well but couldn't make it. We have four days before the next game, once he comes back into the squad it is a different balance altogether. The good thing is we have won three out of five, we have lost two where we haven't played good cricket, so I think it is about rectifying those small mistakes.

The conversation around chasing is always to have a big partnership, with the dew set in had we kept 7-8 wickets at the end of 10 overs, the game would have been on. The same thing happened against Kings XI. I am pretty sure once we get a big partnership in we should be able to see these important situations through. They (Delhi) are playing some good cricket," added Kohli, who scored 43 runs from 39 balls against DC on Monday.