It was a batting collapse, pitch not a factor: Negi

KOLKATA:

Royal Challengers Bangalore

spinner Pawan Negi termed his team's humiliating 49 all-out as "part of the game" but at the same time refused to blame the excessive seam movement that was on offer with all 10 wickets being taken by the KKR pacers.

"There's nothing to do with the pitch but both the teams bowled well. We did well in both spin and pace departments. But then it's part of the game. One day you do well and on another day, nothing goes your way," Negi said at the post-match news conference.

"Unfortunately, our batting collapsed. There was nothing to do with the wicket," he said.

The India discard also refused to blame the spell of shower before the start of the match, which many think would have aided the seam attack.

"I don't think rain made any difference."

RCB's collapse started with skipper Virat Kohli's duck in the third ball when the captain chased a wide delivery to edge it to second slip. Kohli was later seen complaining the fourth umpire about some spectators' movement near the sightscreen.

"It's nothing to do with the sightscreen. But people behind the sightscreen were moving a lot, causing problems for the batsmen," Negi said.