IPL 2019, RCB vs KKR: 3 reasons behind RCB’s morale-crushing loss
Royal Challengers Bangalore have gotten off to a poor start in IPL 2019, to say the least. Having lost all the matches they have played so far, they find themselves at the bottom of the IPL points table.
RCB have failed in all three departments (batting, bowling, and fielding) this year. And while the fans were expecting a change of fortunes in the match against KKR, that wasn’t to be.
After being put in to bat by Dinesh Karthik, RCB managed to score 205 runs in their 20 overs thanks to a brilliant partnership by Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. But that was as good as it got for RCB.
Everything went downhill once they took the field to defend the target. With the exception of Mohammed Siraj, their fielding looked quite good. Their bowlers, however, just kept giving away a lot of free runs.
When compared to RCB’s earlier matches though, they actually played a lot better. They showed a lot of positive intent, but there were a few notable mistakes that could’ve been avoided. The end result of this match was the same: RCB lost yet another game to continue their losing streak.
So if RCB played well, then how did they end up losing the match? Here, we’ve highlighted the 3 big reasons behind RCB’s defeat to KKR:
1. RCB bowlers bowled a lot of extras
Many people don’t realize it, but sometimes the extras bowled can be the difference between victory and defeat. This statement was proved true in yesterday’s match, as effectively over 25 runs went to KKR as a result of extras.
First, Navdeep Saini bowled a front foot no-ball to Sunil Narine. The free hit that followed was dispatched for four. Then Siraj bowled another no-ball that was dispatched for six by Chris Lynn.
But the moment that perhaps cost RCB the match was when Siraj bowled a no-ball to Andre Russell, who hit a six off that. Russell didn’t waste the free hit as he dispatched the next ball into the crowd as well.
But it wasn’t just no balls that cost RCB this match. There was a lot of wides bowled as well, and one wide even went for four.
When you combine the extras and the runs that followed as a result of those extras, you can clearly see that RCB gave over 25 free runs to KKR. Had those errors been avoided by RCB’s bowlers, they could have restricted KKR to less than 200.