Why Royal Challengers have cut a sorry figure in this IPL
Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainty has been proven yet again after Royal Challengers Bangalore’s shocking capitulation in this Indian Premier League.
Touted as the frontrunners to lift the IPL title this time after their near miss in the final last year against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kohli & Co’s campaign has gone completely awry. The favourites tag soon gave way with losses piling up and the team is now struggling to make it to playoffs. RCB have lost six matches, won two games and one match was abandoned due to rain which caused more misery to their overall standings.
With just five more games under their belt to give themselves some hopes of making the cut, Kohli’s men take on Rising Pune Supergiant at the MCA Stadium on Saturday.
Kohli can lift his spirit up as Pune has been a happy hunting ground for him and local boy Kedar Jadhav. The duo forged a 200-run partnership with Kohli scoring 122 and Jadhav 120 to chase down 350 against England in the first ODI earlier this year.
There is no dearth of talent in the Royal Challengers Bangalore camp with world’s cricket biggest superstars all available in their team. So, where does the problem lie?
RCB has struggled big time in finding their right combination. It took them six matches to finalise their opening pair as they tried five different combinations before finally settling with Kohli and Chris Gayle.
Injuries to AB de Villiers meant the middle order was left a bit vulnerable. However, the biggest difference of RCB of 2016 and this time is the lack of firepower in their batting.
At the moment, RCB’s batting is being shouldered by only Jadhav, who has scored 206 runs in eight matches.
Mitchell Starc’s decision to not participate in the IPL-10 has probably hurt RCB in a big way. Without Starc, the bowling unit lacks potent to make inroads. The reason they went all out to have Tymal Mills in the auction was to make it up for Starc’s absence. However, the English pacer has been off the mark and could claim only five wickets in five matches at an economy rate of 8.57.
While RCB’s pace department does not pose any threat, spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (10 wickets), Samuel Badree (8 wickets) and Pawan Negi (7) are trying their best to make it up.