IPL 2019: 3 reasons the Royal Challengers Bangalore lost to the Rajasthan Royals
After three games, there were only two teams who were yet to gain a point in this year's edition of the IPL; the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Rajasthan Royals. But in the last match, when they played against each other, the Rajasthan Royals opened their account in a convincing manner, with RCB again pushed towards the bottom of the table.
What is it the problem with RCB? They have got big names, the likes of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and many others. But still, they are far from being a winning team.
Let us look at the three main reasons behind the failure of RCB in yesterday's match.
#1 Inconsistent batting from the Big 3
The major reason behind the downfall of RCB in their last match was the poor batting effort from their top three batsmen.
Virat Kohli, 23 off 25 balls, played uncharacteristically slow innings and was picked off by Shreyas Gopal in the seventh over. Gopal picked the wickets of de Villiers, 13 off nine balls, and Shimron Hetmyer, one run off nine balls, in the 11th over, which forced RCB to play cautiously, rather than going for the big shots.
RCB crossed 150 only due to a last-minute cameo from Moeen Ali's 18 runs off nine balls. If RCB wants to remain in the hunt for the IPL title, its high time the big shots are being active again.
#2 Over-dependence on Chahal
When RR came out to bat, everyone expected the RCB bowlers to trouble the RR batsmen as they have seen Kohli, DeVilliers and Stoinis threatened by the Rajasthan bowlers.
But what we witnessed was a confident run-chase by the RR batsmen. Jos Buttlerand Rahane made an opening partnership of 60 in just eight overs. When Steve Smithaccompanied Buttler, they added another 44 runs and the match was almost out of the hands of RCB by then.
Apart from Yuzvendra Chahal, none of the bowlers offered any threat to the RR batsmen. The victory was evident for Royals from the beginning.
#3 Dropped catches cost matches
Along with a poor batting and bowling performance, it was an equally terrible day at the field for the RCB players.
When Rahane was on one run, Kohli dropped a chance to send him back to the pavilion. Also, while RR was 38 runs away from victory, Umesh Yadav dropped an easy catch of Steve Smith, who later made sure that RR reach the target well within the time-frame.
The RCB head coach, Gary Kirsten, has a long list of problems to solve before their next match.
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