Yet another failure - Royal Challengers Bengaluru

“Ee Sala cup Namde!” meaning “This time cup is ours” - This was the slogan that every RCB fan had used right at the start of Indian Premier League 2018 - The eleventh edition of the most coveted and lucrative T20 league in the modern era. Little did they know that the same slogan would be used by the rival fans, but only to troll them!

Since the start of IPL in 2008, RCB is one team that has always looked good on paper but put up sub-par performances on the field. Out of 5 captains that RCB has had over the years, only Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli have a better win percentage, a little over 50% even after leading the side for a minimum of two seasons. The RCB management also doesn't seem to be so much interested as to find out why the team keeps losing even after having the best-in-world kind of players and best-in-class support staffs.

Cutting a sorry figure - Royal Challengers Bengaluru

A deep dive into the know-how as to why RCB keeps losing games season after season and not getting better is quite intriguing. Starting from the player selection until the strategic execution of a particular game plan why could Virat Kohli succeed as Indian captain but not as Bengaluru skipper is a million dollar question! Let me list down a few reasons which I believe that continually leads to the downfall of Men in Red!

Lack of Core Setup

One thing that Chennai Super Kings are famous for in the history of IPL is their consistency. One captain for all nine seasons that they have played and more importantly they have retained their talent pool time and again. The likes of MS Dhoni, Raina, Jadeja, Bravo and Du Plessis have always been the part of the team. On the contrary, RCB has continued to look down on this option holding on to only Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers and even letting go of the Universe Boss. After all, the game involves eleven players and these two can't keep you winning games every day. 

RCB's batting mainstay - Kohli and de Villiers

Shaky Batting Unit

Ask the fans who play Dream 11 cricket or the official IPL fantasy league in which Royal Challengers batsman would they put their money on and possible answers are Virat and ABD. Some McCullums and de kocks here and there and that's it about RCB's batting unit. For the record, they don't really seem to have a middle order except for some decent performances from Mandeep Singh. Both Baz and QdK have not expressed themselves as Kohli would have loved them to do. The batting unit has been too reliant on these two superstars for runs. The other night against Mumbai Indians in their home fixture, Kohli made a valiant 92 while on the other end wickets kept tumbling. De Villiers being injury prone and little off color this season, RCB batting hasn't really been up to the mark. Their batting collapse against CSK at Pune is another classic example of how much this batting unit is struggling. 

Painful Partnership - Gayle and KL Rahul

Letting go Chris Gayle and Lokesh Rahul has already proved to be a costly mistake. With every passing game, the duo keeps adding to RCB's misery. Having dropped Sarfaraz Khan due to poor fitness and fielding abilities in the previous IPL, the move to retain him over other players seems to be a puzzle hard to crack. If Kohli really wanted him on his side then one year is sufficient time to bring up his capabilities to play for RCB. Instead, Sarfaraz replicated similar performances this edition as well to eventually get dropped from the playing XI, again!

Sorry Bowling attack

Time and again it’s the bowling attack of the RCB that hasn't come together except for the last couple of games against Mumbai and Chennai. Death bowling has certainly not been their strength, especially when defending totals. Even 200 isn't good enough to defend as we saw in the game against CSK at the Chinnaswamy. Umesh Yadav, the senior pacer in the side, though he has been consistent with the new ball, yet he is taken to the cleaners as he comes back in the final overs. Southee has been effective yet not consistent enough. Siraj has proved to be nervous bowling wides in the final overs. Washington Sundar, once a key bowler in the now defunct Pune side hasn't really been able to step up his game this season. Chahal has been the lone shining star as far as spin is concerned and now Murugan Ashwin seems to be doing a decent job.

Just not good enough - RCB Bowling unit

Virat Kohli's choice of bowlers hasn't been impressive either. Relying more on part-timers like Colin Grandhomme and Corey Anderson have cost him a game or two. Asking Anderson to bowl the last over in games against Delhi and Chennai showed poor planning and execution on Virat's part.

Sick fielding unit

“In the air...and dropped!” - This particular expression from the commentators seems to be default this season when RCB side is fielding. When someone said “Catches win matches”, they really meant that, but this Bengaluru side doesn't seem to understand that lesson even after losing games. They again dropped a couple of catches again in the game against CSK. Similar to the other departments they don't seem to have a strong fielding unit as well. Overthrows, misfields and dropped catches have become quite common except for Virat Kohli and McCullum who have been electric on the field taking some acrobatic catches and saving boundaries.

Frequent scenes - poor fielding display

End of the day, the claims of having rebuilt a wonderful side of choice from scratch claims made by the RCB management seems to be misleading. Having got the side he wanted why are Virat and his men's performance not up to the mark this season too? By the end of most of the games, the captain has been let to scratch his head and say the same answers of wanting to improve their performance in the next game but to no avail. If at all RCB are to win this IPL trophy (definitely not this season!) they need to sit down and take some tough some tough calls. When will they go in with a side that has the bowling prowess of Sunrisers and the batting might of KXIP or CSK is a question that only time can answer!