IPL 2016: Kohli-De Villiers mauling was a lesson in T20 batting for Gujarat Lions, says Dinesh Karthik

Bengaluru: Gujarat Lions wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik on Saturday said the team will need to forget the mauling it received from AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli, in their Indian Premier League match against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru on Saturday, at the earliest. Skipper Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers blazed away to unbeaten centuries as RCB notched up a record 144-run win over Gujarat Lions. [caption id=“attachment_2781626” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli (right) added 229 runs for the second wicket in a record stand. Sportzpics/IPL[/caption] “We cannot do much if two greats are going great guns and without giving any chances. We could have batted well after the rivals had posted 248 runs. It becomes difficult for any side chasing a big target. This is one of the games we just need to forget and try and focus on next two games,” Karthik said after the 144-run defeat. Karthik called Kohli and De Villiers’ knocks mind-boggling. “It was a mind-boggling. I think this kind of innings are not played often. They are two special players and they really stood up for their team, and really did well for RCB, for them to post victory in a crucial stage of the tournament,” he said. Asked if the team could have checked the flow of runs, Karthik said, “We got to believe in getting batsmen out. To be frank, our bowlers did try but Kohli and AB took the game away from us by playing incredible shots, especially AB who was on a song, hitting sixes off the backfoot. I mean it is not an easy shot to play. It was a lesson in T20 batting for us,” he said. Karthik said the five-day break will be good for the team after the heavy defeat. “After a game like this we need a break, after a five- day break we would have completely forgotten about the outstanding knocks. Yes five days is a good break for us,” he said. When asked if the pitch played differently in the second half, Karthik said the team lost plot when they lost two wickets in powerplay and two more in the middle overs. “Wickets matter in this sort of a game, and they got upfront, straight away and then in the middle overs they got two wickets in two balls. It becomes tough for lower middle order to keep going from ball one. Apart from the toss everything went wrong for us,” he said. Lions’ assistant coach Sitanshu Kotak said it was difficult for anyone to judge whether RCB’s bowling had improved compared to their performances in their last 10 games. “I don’t think from this game you can judge their bowling. To be honest, they have played nine to 10 games, and if you look at that you probably have better idea of their bowling in this IPL so far,” Kotak said.