Virat Kohli’s wait for an IPL trophy for Royal Challengers Bangalore extended to one more year after they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2020 Eliminator.
In IPL 2020, there was plenty of optimism surrounding Virat Kohli and the Royal Challengers Bangalore side. For a long time, the side looked balanced and had depth in both batting and bowling. Virat Kohli did not have any other distractions and he was coming out fresh from 5-6 months of rest. For the first 11 games of IPL 2020, Royal Challengers Bangalore looked like the total package, winning games and putting on clinical displays with both bat and ball as well as showing mental strength. After 11 IPL games, Royal Challengers Bangalore briefly were in the top two. However, things started to go downhill suddenly.
Needing just one win in their remaining four games to qualify for the knockouts, Royal Challengers Bangalore reverted to their old ways of inconsistency. They found ways to complicate situations, much like the RCB of earlier editions. They lost to Chennai Super Kings and from that point on, they never recovered. Losses to Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad suddenly made the equation complicated. What was a guaranteed top two position now became a question of playoff qualification over net run-rate. The fact they qualified for the playoffs was only due to the fact that they did not lose to Delhi Capitals in their last game by a big margin.
In the Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad, they once again flattered to deceive as they were restricted to 131/7. Kane Williamson hit fifty and Sunrisers Hyderabad eliminated Virat Kohli’s side from the tournament, prolonging their wait for an IPL trophy by one more year. What went wrong for RCB? How did a campaign that started so positively end on a poor note?
Death overs woes
If one has to pinpoint the exact cause of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s downfall, it has to be their poor performance with the bat in the death overs (Overs 16-20). Starting from the Chennai Super Kings game, Royal Challengers Bangalore managed 44 runs but lost four wickets which made the difference. Against Mumbai Indians, they scored only 35 runs and lost four wickets. Their performance against Sunrisers Hyderabad was even worse, scoring just 27 runs and losing three wickets. They put on an improved show against Delhi Capitals, scoring 49 runs but they also lost five wickets. In the Eliminator, they could manage only 38 runs in the last five overs and they lost three wickets.
Scoring at an average run-rate of 7.7 in the last five games in the death overs proved to be underwhelming for Royal Challengers Bangalore. When you consider Mumbai Indians scoring at an average net run-rate of over 10 in the death overs is the benchmark, then RCB fall flat here.
Kohli’s lack of contribution, bad decisions
When one looks at the five losses accumulated by Royal Challengers Bangalore, Virat Kohli’s contribution with the bat comes into focus. Although he hit a fifty against Chennai Super Kings, it was a strike-rate of 116. In the four subsequent games after that, Kohli managed scores of just 9.7,29 and 6. In five games that Royal Challengers Bangalore lost, Virat Kohli could manage only 101 runs at an average of 20.2
Heading into the Eliminator, Royal Challengers Bangalore were dealt a big blow when they lost Chris Morris. That threw their team composition into a tizzy. Moeen Ali, included in this match, was run-out of a free-hit. He bowled only one over. Shivam Dube also bowled only one over. The lack of utilization of Moeen Ali, on a pitch that was sluggish, seemed to suggest that Virat Kohli once again misjudged his team composition.
“Few soft dismissals, few fortunate ones for them as well and we just didn't have enough runs on the board. Maybe a bit of nerves, maybe a bit of hesitation, we need to be more expressive with the bat. We didn't have any phases in the game where we got away from the opposition,” Virat Kohli said after their elimination. This season sums up Royal Challengers Bangalore in a nutshell. Plenty of promise as always but failing to live up to expectations.
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