'I have given my 120% to this franchise and will continue giving it as a player on the field.'
The four-wicket defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL Eliminator match on Monday ended Virat Kohli's tenure as the Royal Challengers Bangalore's skipper but he said he will continue to play for the franchise till the end of his career.
Under his captaincy, RCB reached the IPL final in 2016 but failed to make it to the play-offs in the next three years. However, they made it to the play-offs in the last two years but failed to go all the way as Kohli finished without an IPL trophy in his captaincy tenure.
In the 140 matches under Kohli, RCB won 66 and lost 70 while four games were no results.
"I have tried my best to create a culture where youngsters could come and play expressive cricket. It's something I have tried to do in the India level as well. All I can say is that I have given my best," said Kohli after the match
"I have given my 120% to this franchise and will continue giving it as a player on the field."
Ahead of the start of the second leg of the IPL in the UAE last month, Kohli had announced that he would step down as the RCB captain. He had taken over as the RCB captain in 2013 after being part of the franchise as a player since the inaugural edition of IPL in 2008.
The India skipper added that he will continue to play for RCB till the end of his career as 'loyalty' matters to him.
"It's a great time to regroup and restructure the franchise for the next three years. I will definitely (play for RCB). For me, loyalty matters and my commitment is with this franchise till the last day I play IPL."
Talking about the match against KKR, Kohli said the RCB batsmen struggled against the spinners. Sunil Narine took 4/21 and then hit a quickfire 26 from 15 balls to guide KKR to victory, setting up a clash with Delhi Capitals in the Qualifier 2 match, with the winners going through to the IPL final against Chennai Super Kings.
"Their spinners dominated the game in the middle overs. They kept taking wickets there. We had a great start and probably should've tried to build on it. It was more about quality bowling instead of poor batting," Kohli told Star Sports after the game.
"Outstanding bowling performance from us. Been the hallmark this season. But tonight that big over in the middle deflated our chances in the middle. We fought till the last. But 15 runs left out there with the bat and a couple of big overs with the ball.
Narine has always been a quality bowler and tonight once again showed why he is the most consistent wicket-takers in the IPL. Not just him, Shakib (Al Hasan), Varun (Chakravarthy), and him all three bowled amazingly together. They created pressure together for our batters to not get their big shots," he added.
