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3 early concerns for RCB after their loss to CSK

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by six wickets in the inaugural match of IPL 2024 at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday, March 22.

Batting first, RCB mustered up a handy total of 173/6 in their quota of 20 overs. It came thanks to late assaults from wicketkeeper-batters Dinesh Karthik and Anuj Rawat.

CSK, however, were able to chase those runs down quite comfortably in just 18.4 overs. None of their batters crossed the 50-run mark but everyone contributed just about enough to the team's cause.

In this article, we bring to you three early concerns for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru after their loss on Friday.


#1 Rajat Patidar's form

Rajat Patidar in a practice session with India.
Rajat Patidar in a practice session with India.

India batter Rajat Patidar has been in a poor run of form, which also resulted in him being sacked from the national team in the five-match Test series against England.

He got out for a duck in the game against CSK on Friday as well. Patidar is a player who provides the anchor to which the rest of the batters like to play around.

The Madhya Pradesh batter has a penchant for rotating the strike as well as going for the big one when the time is right. He will be worried about his lack of consistency in recent times.


#2 RCB seamers' economy rate

None of the RCB bowlers went at an economy rate of less than nine per over on Friday, and this is extremely worrying. Seamers Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, and Alzarri Joseph bore the brunt of the lot and went at 9.50, 9.30 and 10.40, respectively.

RCB have to sort this issue out as quickly as they can to come back into the tournament and pick up their first two points of the season on Monday against Punjab Kings.

Their seamers have to be more accurate with their lengths. If they fail to do so, the same story will be repeated all season.


#3 Virat Kohli's strike rate

Star India batter Virat Kohli, who is one of the best batters in the world across all formats of the game, scored 21 runs off 20 balls on Friday against CSK.

Opening the batting alongside skipper Faf du Plessis, Kohli was expected to take the attack to the opposition and challenge them into bowling looseners. It was not easy by any means for Kohli to get going on a rather sluggish Chepauk track, but the CSK batters showcased how to play on it later in the day.

Kohli's slow scoring rate will bother the team management but they know that he can correct his course quickly.

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