Royal Challengers Bangalore – What can we say about them that hasn’t already been said before? 6 matches played, 6 matches lost. The worst record in the history of the Indian Premier League.
The question is this – Are RCB going to go through the entire season without a single win? Is it going to be 14 matches played, 14 lost?
Such an outcome is unthinkable, or was, at the start of the season. Everyone was talking about how Virat Kohli was due at least 1 IPL title and that this was going to be RCB’s year.
But what a terrible season it has been for them! One only hopes that Virat doesn’t take it to heart, after all, Indian fans will need him to be fresh and confident when he leads India in the upcoming World Cup.
So what has gone wrong? Pretty much everything. Virat and AB de Villiers have done well in one or two matches, but even those performances were in losing causes. They really have failed more often than succeeded.
RCB have been the slowest starters in the IPL. Their run-rate in the Powerplay is 7.3, which is pathetic really. In the slog overs, they have a run rate of under 9, which is the worst in the competition.
But the real concern is their bowling, which has looked toothless. Umesh Yadav has been a major disappointment. His understudies, Mohammad Siraj and Navdeep Saini have bowled fast, but without purpose.
Kings XI would fancy their chances for tonight’s game. In fact, all teams in the IPL would consider any match against RCB to be a must win. But they will be without the Universe Boss, Chris Gayle, who is injured.
Mohammad Shami has been the standout performer for them. This has been the fast bowler’s best IPL as yet.
The Teams
Kings XI Punjab: 1 KL Rahul (wk), 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Karun Nair, 4 David Miller/ Nicholas Pooran, 5 Sarfaraz Khan, 6 Mandeep Singh, 7 Sam Curran, 8 R Ashwin (capt), 9 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 M Ashwin, 11 Mohammed Shami
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Parthiv Patel (wk), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Marcus Stoinis, 5 Moeen Ali, 6 Akshdeep Nath, 7 Pawan Negi, 8 Tim Southee, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Navdeep Saini
Prediction: Easy win for Kings XI Punjab, seventh successive defeat for RCB.
