RCB combust under serious heat and a concoction of chaos
Ever seen the Home Alone film series? Of course, you would have!
A young Kevin McAllister is left all alone, first at home and then in one of the world's biggest cities before protecting his house becomes his responsibility as a couple of most wanted thieves try to break in.
McAllister lays down a series of booby traps that bamboozle those thieves who rob houses and stores at will and make them look silly. It was chaotic, cacophonous, and for the viewer, hilarious.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were up for a third straight game at home in IPL 2024 on Tuesday as the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) came calling. Granted that they don't have the proudest record at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium but protecting their home was a priority as they were in desperate search for a win.
What unfolded was a lot like the business end of the Home Alone movies. Except, the traps were self-laid and the hosts succumbed to them. It was chaotic. It was cacophonous. It wasn't hilarious for RCB but if you're an LSG fan, you'd have enjoyed every bit of your team's display as they notched up a second win on the bounce.
While the setting of the aforementioned cinema classic was in the backdrop of a snowy Christmas, RCB's third defeat in four games this season blew up in smoke. Heat in more than one way, owing to the combination of pressure plus the scorching velocity of a 21-year-old tyro who has cast himself as the find of the season already.
Trap number 1: RCB's team selection
Alzarri Joseph's relentless use of the short ball to take advantage of the two-bouncer rule bordered on obsession in RCB's first three matches. Such is the nature of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium and Bengaluru's high altitude location that even the leading edge can fly over the fence.
Joseph's lackluster returns were bound to see an obvious change made on that front. Except, it was the left-arm angle of Reece Topley that got the nod ahead of Lockie Ferguson's velocity. A move that raised eyebrows, considering Topley's best usage is in the powerplay where the Challengers already had the dual option of Mohammed Siraj and Yash Dayal, plus the off-spin matchup of Glenn Maxwell should the need arise.
Topley was handed the first over and his rank half-volleys were suitably punished by Quinton de Kock. A change in tack was evident as Siraj didn't bowl the second over either, perhaps pointing towards a middle-overs role. Except, on he came for the third over and traveled the distance as he erred on the pads to induce de Kock's fancied pick-up shot. One that he'd play in his sleep if he had to!
What was more startling was that on a pitch with a fair bit of assistance for the cutters, RCB's best bowler in the match against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) - Vijaykumar Vyshak - wasn't named in the XI. There went the middle overs enforcer even without an opportunity to show why he was the man for the surface.
Three expensive overs first up meant that Maxwell had to be introduced. Simplicity in lines and lengths with subtle pace variations meant that he kept the batters quiet while also nipping KL Rahul in the bud. But with de Kock watching the white cherry like a football, he was bound to make RCB pay the longer he batted.
The first self-laid trap - a uni-dimensional and largely single-phase pace attack - backfires badly. But there was renewed hope that followed...
Trap number 2: The bouncer compulsion
Dayal was magnificent on Tuesday as a bowler with a plan. Even a set de Kock and the destructive Nicholas Pooran didn't have much of an answer. Wide yorkers, slower bouncers, and knowing just when to mix them up and unleash the variation - his spell towards the back end of the innings had it all as he ended with 1/24 off his four overs.
Topley seemed to bowl with a plan too in that regard. A dipping low full toss induced a false stroke out of de Kock while RCB's outstanding pullback was headlined by a clear strategy to keep it as far away from Pooran's reach as possible.
There was a deep backward point and a deep cover. But for someone who is known to slice the ball square of the wicket, it was hard to fathom the latter not being brought a lot squarer. Very little margin for error after all at this ground and the moment Topley, despite going by the plan in the penultimate over, erred in execution, a couple of full tosses were smeared over the point fence.
A slower one that sat up followed. Not a bluff, for Pooran was ready for it before he leathered it possibly towards Cubbon Park even as the distance was tracked at 106 meters.
Siraj bowled the 20th over and tried something similar with the wide yorker. He succeeded with three dots to start with before the fourth was sliced for half a dozen. Panic struck instantly though as he served up a short one at full pace right after when there was no need to deviate from a plan that was in place. LSG's vice-captain pre-empted it and off went the ball over mid-wicket again.
The tactic to keep it wide of Pooran was a much better one and RCB's bowlers executed it pretty well in comparison to how all over the place they seemed in the first half. Except, when it went wrong, it cost them five sixes which, in the context of the end result, was massive. And the bouncer rule at the back of their mind played a part in two of those.
Trap number 3: The batting order
Ever since Cameron Green was traded in, RCB have had to work out varying entry points for the three batters immediately following their openers. The trend in the first three games seemed to suggest that Green would bat at No. 3 if a wicket fell in the first half of the powerplay while Rajat Patidar would don the role had the first wicket gone down in the second half of it.
True to that trend, Patidar strode out after Manimaran Siddharth got past Virat Kohli in the fifth over. The very next over saw the newest sensation on the block, Mayank Yadav, being introduced and once Faf du Plessis fell miles short of a non-existent run, LSG were cock-a-hoop.
Surely, it had to be Cameron Green to come out next though. Brought up on fast-paced surfaces in Perth, he was better suited to counter this tearaway 'child of wind' as Ian Bishop tweeted.
Except, it was Maxwell, who has at times been susceptible to the short ball, who was sent in. This with potentially four overs of Ravi Bishnoi to follow and Patidar, renowned for taking down spin himself, already in the middle. A fiery short delivery on off stump and a clueless hoick with the ball getting high on Maxwell's bat followed as he departed without troubling the scorers. RCB are in a lot of trouble, just like that.
Of course, one can argue in hindsight that even poor Green had no clue about that scorcher from Mayank that sent the bails flying. You couldn't even fault him for bringing his bat down late - it was but relative to the speed of the ball. It was serious heat that the Delhi lad generated as RCB's batting nucleus melted in the face of it.
But for a 3-4-5 that has to be on its toes and ready to walk out with the bat in hand based on matchups and entry points, the move to send Maxwell ahead of Green was simply wrong.
The metamorphosis from restricted flexibility in terms of options to flexibility amongst these three batters RCB are bound to play just about every game was inevitable. It is something they would have foreseen before the start of the season considering they brought it upon themselves with their squad construction, leaving no room for a left-handed spin-hitting floater (Mahipal Lomror) lest it result in an under-utilization of their best resources.
Another trap that they laid themselves and walked into without being able to get out of it. Faint hope continued to linger as Lomror and Dinesh Karthik looked to reprise their heroics against the Punjab Kings (PBKS).
But on a night where so much went wrong, the end result was all but poetic - as was the run out of Mayank Dagar as he slipped halfway across the pitch while turning back and Pooran's throw from the deep hit the stumps on the full even as he intended to arrow it to the keeper.
Right out of a chaotic comedy drama. Except, this was less comedy and more an error-ridden chaos.
RCB now travel for their next two games and the last team they'd want to run into right now are the rampaging Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Jaipur. Except, that's how the schedule is as the table-toppers await next.
It's not last-chance territory yet by any stretch. But they need a couple of wins and desperately so now. The three years RCB made the playoffs from 2020-22, they didn't play a single game at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. They can take heart from the fact that they won more matches on the road than they did at home last year, but this concoction of chaos that ensued on Tuesday will see their world come crashing down irrespective of where they play.
A zero compromise on fundamentals, sound strategizing, and backing it as well as they can are key to pocketing a few wins. And they have to come to fruition now before the writing is on the wall for the season.