3 RCB players who flopped against RR

Rajasthan Royals clashed against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur today. Electing to bat first, Rajasthan Royals put up a solid total of 164/5 in 20 overs thanks to Rahul Tripathy who carried his bat throughout the innings and stayed not out for a well made 80 of 58 deliveries. Heinrich Klassen (32 of 21) and Krishnappa Gowtham (14 of 5) struck few lusty blows in the end to propel Rajasthan’s score to 164/5.

Umesh Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for RCB with 3-25 in his 4 overs.

In reply, RCB got off to a disastrous start, losing Virat Kohli in the 3rd over. Parthiv Patel and AB de Villiers strung together a partnership of 55 runs for the 2nd wicket. But the introduction of leg spinners post the power play was the turning point of the game.

Shreyas Gopal and Ish Sodhi triggered the collapse of RCB as both the bowlers ripped apart the middle order picking up 5 wickets among each other to help Rajasthan Royals register a famous win in an important encounter. In the end, RCB folded for 134 in 19.2 overs and this loss meant they are the 2nd team to be knocked out of the tournament.

In a game that had some memorable performances to some poor ones. Let us look at 3 players from RCB who failed to step up to the occasion.

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#3 Virat Kohli

The skipper of RCB, Virat Kohli had an off day at the office and this cost his side a spot in the playoffs. Chasing a target of 165, Virat Kohli opened the innings along with Parthiv Patel. The opposition skipper Ajinkya Rahane took a gamble by introducing the offie Krishnappa Gowtham to bowl the first over.

Surprisingly, Kohli struggled to play the off-spinner and couldn’t rotate the strike on a slow pitch that was offering a little turn at the start. In the 5 balls he faced off the first over, Kohli managed to score only 1 run.

Gowtham continued his second over and on the 5th ball of the over he dismissed the RCB skipper. Virat Kohli danced down the track and missed one that crashed into the stumps. On a slow pitch, where horizontal bat shots are difficult to execute, Kohli played one that lead to his dismissal.

Clearly, Virat Kohli was out of sorts and this was his 8th dismissal against spin this season, which is the most.

#2 Moeen Ali

Parthiv Patel was dismissed on the 3rd ball in the 9th over of the bowling of Shreyas Gopal and RCB required someone to partner along with AB de Villiers who was looking in sublime touch to take them home. Moeen Ali, who played a cracker of an innings in the previous encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad walked out to bat to partner AB de Villiers.

He got off the mark with a single of the first ball he faced. On the last ball of the over, Moeen Ali was dismissed as he chipped one straight to offer a simple return catch for the bowler.

Moeen Ali failed to read a googly and this lead to his dismissal. On a slow pitch, where batsmen needed to spend a little time to get used to the nature of the pitch, Moeen Ali played a poor shot, which not only lead to his dismissal but also triggered a major collapse for RCB.

#1 Mandeep Singh

Mandeep Singh’s primary job in the side is to provide some lusty blows with the bat in the latter stages of the innings for RCB. Coming into this game he had a miserable IPL and had one chance at redemption. But he failed to capitalize on the opportunity and got out playing a horrible shot.

RCB were struggling at 77-3 in 9 overs and it required one good partnership to take them home. AB de Villiers was batting at the other end and was looking in ominous touch. An out of form, Mandeep Singh faced Ish Sodhi in the 10th over and got off the mark of a leading edge that was wide of the slip.

It was evident that the pitch was turning square and it was not easy to play attacking strokes off the spinners. On the 3rd ball of the 11th over of Shreyas Gopal, Mandeep was dismissed when he danced down the ground to miss one that spun away after pitching only to be stumped.

This was a horrible shot considering the fact that he was new to the crease and the shot was not on a pitch that was spinning square.

Mandeep Singh lacked the application to play under tough circumstances and he failed miserably under pressure.