RCB: IPL's Chokers?

A chase of 210 is always challenging in T20 cricket. But when you have a lineup as strong as RCB does in IPL 2022, you are expected to do better than lose by 54 runs. Credit to the Punjab bowlers for sticking to their plans and backing an excellent performance by their batters. But RCB...oh...RCB, is this another one of those years?

They say nothing hurts more badly than a false hope. I feel for RCB fans right now. Year after year, the promise of a new dawn, but the same old issues haunting them. Sometimes I wonder if we could associate the word "chokers" with this IPL franchise. Seven Playoffs and three  IPL finals, yet no trophy to show. Let's not dive too much into the past and focus on this year.

The only issue that came up after this year's mega auction was that RCB would have to play atleast two inexperienced batters in their top seven. After giving ample opportunities to Anuj Rawat, they have now settled on Rajat Patidar and Mahipal Lomror, with Shahbaz Ahmed as the all-round option. All three are fine cricketers and have done very well, resulting in a very big plus for RCB. But it's the big guns that are troubling the franchise, except Dinesh Karthik of course. Dinesh Karthik has been in outstanding form, striking at over 200 this IPL season. And he keeps wickets. What else do you want from him? You might want him to open considering Virat Kohli's indifferent form. Whichever team you support, you have to feel for him. He said he has seen it all, but this rut just doesn't seem to end for Kohli. Three ducks already and an average of 19.66. A few years back no one could have even thought of associating these numbers with Virat Kohli, especially after that superhuman IPL season. What has further not helped the RCB team are the inconsistent displays of their international players - du Plessis and Maxwell. While they do have scores of  96, 88 and 55 between them, they have not been able to arrest collapses like the one yesterday, or the one v SRH. 

The bowlers have been really good, with individual bad days spread in between. Hasaranga has led the way with 23 wickets in this IPL season. Harshal and Hazlewood have been good too. Maxwell and Shahbaz have provided ideal support, delivering key wickets when needed. Siraj is not having a good year with his economy rate well over 9. He has failed to provide Powerplay wickets and that has led to more pressure on others. But overall, RCB's bowling unit has been successful in covering their defects and restricted opposition batters more often than not. 

Gayle, Kohli, de Villiers, Yuvraj, Maxwell, du Plessis, Karthik - Bangalore has had some star batters in their arsenal. You expect such a side to be a strong batting unit. While each of these players have been good, they have not been able to click together consistently. And that, my friend, is why the cabinet is still empty.

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