"He is somebody who always pushes the limits and the barrier for himself" - Sanjay Bangar on Virat Kohli ahead of RCB's contest against KKR  

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) head coach Sanjay Bangar has praised Virat Kohli's work ethic and perseverance ahead of the team's home match against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Wednesday, April 26.

The ace batter has already scored four fifties in IPL 2023 but was dismissed for a duck in RCB's seven-run win over the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Sunday, April 23. He was trapped lbw by an inswinging delivery from Trent Boult to mark a rare early departure. Kohli has scored 279 runs in seven matches at a strike rate of 141.62 at the halfway stage of IPL 2023.

Stating that Kohli is someone who wishes to rectify any issues immediately, Bangar said on RCB Game Day Preview:

"Whenever he comes for training, he makes sure that he does his things really well, and if at all there are any issues he is concerned about, he wants to straightaway address it and rectify it, so that is the hallmark of his game and he is somebody who always pushes the limits and the barrier for himself. It augurs well that he is in that sort of a mindset."

The majority of RCB's runs have come from the illustrious trio of Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, and Glenn Maxwell. RCB skipper du Plessis is the current Orange Cap holder as well with over 400 runs to his name. The contributions from the top three have put the middle order in a rough spot as they have struggled to contribute on a consistent basis so far.

Addressing the lack of contributions by the middle order in their campaign so far, Bangar said:

"It is a T20 game, so if the top three or four batters getting to play lot of balls, then it leaves very little work to be done. But yes, we would certainly like to have a little more contributions from the middle order, but it does not really mean that they are not contributing."

The likes of Mahipal Lomror and Shahbaz Ahmed have been tried out at No. 3 while Suyas Prabhudessai has struggled while coming down the order as well.

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"We have certainly thought about our strategies" - Sanjay Bangar on RCB's plans against Andre Russell

KKR all-rounder Andre Russell has proved to be a thorn in RCB's side on several occasions. Even though he is not in the best of form at the moment, the threat posed by the Caribbean ace cannot be ignored.

Noting that RCB have set plans for Russell, Bangar said:

"Russell has been playing for KKR for a number of years now and we as a team, have been bowling to him in a particular way. At times he has succeeded, at times we have, that is the nature of the game. We have certainly thought about our strategies."

RCB were bamboozled by the KKR spinners earlier in the season at Eden Gardens, leading to a mammoth 81-run loss.

Bangar feels that batters will be inclined to play through the line on the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium surface, saying:

"If there are quality spinners, they will create an impact irrespective of the track. We have quality spinners in our side as well. By the way the evening matches have panned out, the batters will rely a lot to play through the line and hope that there is not too much movement off the surface."

RCB will look to extend their winning run to three matches when they lock horns with the Knight Riders tonight. KKR, on the other hand, are currently on a four-match losing streak.