Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have been one of the most underperforming teams in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season thus far. Their batting has been a particular concern, with a heavy reliance on Virat Kohli, the tournament’s current leading run-scorer.
Ahead of RCB’s next crucial match against Mumbai Indians (MI), former RCB star AB de Villiers took to YouTube to analyze the team’s struggles. He pinpointed their inability to capitalize on good starts as a key weakness.
De Villiers highlighted that RCB batters tend to falter after the initial powerplay overs, failing to maximize the advantage of early wickets. He even critiqued Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis‘ approach in the last game against Rajasthan Royals (RR), suggesting they could have been more aggressive during the crucial overs 4 to 6.
“There are a lot of areas, unfortunately, which I think RCB is lacking at the moment,” de Villiers said in the video. “They are getting really good starts but we don’t really see them exploding from overs 4 to 6.“
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He acknowledged the challenges faced by the middle order, which has been out of form. However, he emphasized the importance of taking calculated risks and trusting the lower batsman when wickets are in hand. “When you don’t lose wickets you have to find a way at some stage to pull the trigger and trust the middle-order a bit more,” de Villiers opined.
RCB to bat first vs MI at Wankhede
In a desperate need for a win, RCB are locking horns with the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 11. Hardik Pandya won the toss and asked RCB to bat first ahead of an encounter which could be a high-scoring one.
Interestingly, to make address their issues in the team, the Faf du Plessis-led side went on to make three changes in their playing XI. They have given an IPL debut cap to Will Jacks, who is a hard-hitting top-order batter from England. Meanwhile, Mahipal Lomror and Vijaykumar Vyshak are also in the lineup.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik(w), Mahipal Lomror, Reece Topley, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep
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