Former India batter Ambati Rayudu prett much ripped into Royal Challengers Bengaluru and questioned the contributions of their high-profile players as the franchise once again finds itself in doldrums at the beginning of an IPL season. RCB have lost three out of their first four matches to languish at the bottom of the table at No.9, just a rung above Mumbai Indians, and what’s frustrating to see is the same old pattern – a franchise with all renowned T20 players underperforming.
Barring Virat Kohli – 203 runs from 4 innings – none of the batters including Glenn Maxwell, captain Faf du Plessis or Cameron Green could get going, and that’s where Rayudu reckons the problem lies – no one is ready to bat lower when the pressure as it a boiling point. This is the reason Rayudu, winner of six IPL titles believes RCB have never won the Indian Premier League trophy even once despite being one of the original eight franchises that began this journey 16 years ago.
“Look who bats in the pressure situations for them? Young Indian batters and Dinesh Karthik. Your big-name players who are international players who are supposed to take pressure. Where are they? Are all in the dressing room. This has been happening for over 16 years for this team,” Rayudu said while speaking on the Star Sports show ‘Cricket Live’.
“This has been their story. When there is pressure, we cannot find any big-name players all young players are coming down the order. Your big-name players go to the top of the order and eat the cream. A team like this will never win. This is the reason why they have not won IPL thus far.”
Why Rayudu is not wrong
It’s difficult to argue with Rayudu. The former Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings star is very accurate in his assessment. Even during RCB’s formative years when the trio of Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers used to feature in their Playing XI, the middle-lower order was either low on experienced or left without a designated role.
MI had Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya, while Kolkata Knight Riders had Andre Russell or occasionally a pinch-hitter like Sunil Narine. CSK had more-than-capable options in Dwayne Bravo or MS Dhoni, whereas RCB has struggled in finding a suitable candidate, with only Dinesh Karthik managing to excel in that role after years of trial and error.
And the same problem seems to be plaguing RCB this season too. Even Cameron Green, whom they traded from MI, is batting higher, hardly leaving any impact as scores of 18, 3, 33 and 9 demonstrate. Du Plessis meanwhile has returns of 35, 3, 8 and 19, and Maxwell, RCB’s successor to AB de Villiers has endured a woeful start that includes two ducks. RCB’s frailty can be estimated from the fact that despite playing at a home town that is notoriously known to be one of the smallest grounds in India, they failed to chase down 182 despite boasting a star-studded batting order with rookie pacer Mayank Yadav wreaking havoc.
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