The Royal Challengers Bangalore captain was at fault on two occasions when he dropped catches of match-winner KL Rahul while also not contributing much with the bat. Kohli’s two drop catches proved costly as Rahul went on to slam a record-breaking hundred against RCB at the Dubai International Stadium.
“As it was his team’s first offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Kohli was fined Rs 12 lakh,” the IPL said in a release.
While chasing, RCB never looked comfortable. Captain Kohli departed after scoring just one run in five balls. Mr. 360 AB de Villers tried for some period but didn't get enough support from the other end. He scored an 18-ball 28 before giving his wicket to former RCB leg-spinner Murugan Ashwin. Washington Sundar was the highest run-scorer (30) for RCB in this match.
They were bowled out for 109 in 17 overs, resulting in a 97-run defeat.
Reacting to his lapses in the field, Kohli said he is ready to take the brunt front on.
“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 should’ve led from the front and taken those two chances,” said Kohli at the post-match presentation.