Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were eliminated from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 after a closely-fought defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Eliminator on Friday. Though it’s the team as a whole that failed to fire over the past five games, it’s the skipper Virat Kohli who is being targeted by fans, experts and former cricketers.
On social media, while many have hit out at the franchise for ‘bottling’ in yet another season, India great Sunil Gavaskar feels Kohli’s failure to live up to the standards remains one of the biggest reasons behind the team’s elimination.
“Looking at the high standards that he sets for himself, maybe he would say he didn’t quite match that and that’s one of the reasons why RCB weren’t able to go through. Because when he scores those big runs along with AB de Villiers, they invariably have big scores,” Gavaskar told broadcaster Star Sports.
It was the first time in four years that RCB managed to finish the league stage in the top four, that too with the narrowest of margins. The Bengaluru franchise has had issues with regards to is bowling over the past few years. This season, however, the story has been slightly different.
“If anything, their bowling has always been their weak point. Even now, in this particular team, they have got an Aaron Finch, who is a fine T20 player, young Devdutt Padikkal, who began well and then Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, then you have really got it made,” Gavaskar stated.
RCB made a number of changes for the crucial Eliminator match against SRH, with Moeen Ali, Adam Zampa and Aaron Finch coming in while Kohli promoted himself to the top of the order. Gavaskar also feels that RCB need to have the roles and team combinations better defined if they are to go all the way.
“I think where they need to do a little bit of thinking is to give Shivam Dube a proper role. Dube has gone down and Sundar has gone up and down. If he can be given a role and told to go out there and thrash the ball, it might help him. He is confused now,” Gavaskar added.
With the bat this season, Kohli scored 466 runs in 15 matches at an average of 42.36 but struggled to score quick runs in most games. He had an aggregate strike-rate of 121.35 this IPL.
Source: Times Now
