Can Royal Challengers Bangalore's poor form dent India's World Cup hopes?

On paper, India should be buoyant about their chances in the upcoming World Cup to be held in England and Wales. The Men in Blue are one of the favourites for the trophy alongside a resurgent Australia and hosts England. Their recent form has been quite convincing in the 50-over format, despite a narrow loss to the Aussies in their last series.

India have a great mix of young blood and wily old hands, and they also have the top batsman in the world who also captains the side. Sounds good, right?

The IPL conundrum

Well, not quite since there is the small matter of the Indian Premier League to tackle before the quadrennial showpiece begins. IPL, the cash-rich, super-entertaining league has, however, become a bed of thorns for the Indian captain.

Virat Kohli has been at the helm of the Royal Challengers Bangalore for a considerable amount of time now. In the words of former India opener Gautam Gambhir, he has been lucky to have survived for so long as the skipper of the Bangalore-based franchise, despite not winning the league even once. Harsh words, but possibly true in the cruel, result-oriented universe of the IPL.

From bad to worse

This was the season where Virat, who has led the national team in all formats to success, including a first Test series win in Australia, could have answered the critics of his captaincy in the IPL. However, things started going wrong, right from the very beginning.

They were given a tough opener against the defending champions, the formidable Chennai Super Kings, and batting first, RCB failed to cross the 100-barrier.

Then came a heartbreaking loss in a thriller against the Mumbai Indians which was marred by the Lasith Malinga-no-ball controversy. A defeat that left Kohli fuming; a testament to the fact that how badly the competitor in him wants to succeed in the IPL. The spate of defeats continued unabated as catches were dropped in every match, strike bowlers Yuzvendra Chahal and Tim Southee looked a harried lot and even when the star batsmen AB de Villiers and Virat himself came good, an Andre Russell whirlwind helped the Kolkata Knight Riders to chase down 53 in the last 3 overs, with five balls to spare.

Bangalore look like a ghost ship after six matches and six defeats, a team, almost out of reckoning before the half-way point of the round-robin phase.

Cause for concern

Virat looked a defeated man after the Russell show, he had batted beautifully to take his team past 200 and had celebrated every wicket with gusto only for the heartbreaking final phase. There were hints of white in his beard, a resigned look in his eyes. The psychological pressure in leading a team in disarray was all too telling. Clearly, this is not the best preparation for the Indian captain before he leads the national side out at the biggest cricketing tournament. The negativity has snowballed to such an extent that there have been calls to rest Virat for the rest of the IPL so that he can begin fresh in England and Wales.

What's next?

To be honest, the World Cup is a different ball game altogether. The teams, the format, the conditions will all be starkly different from the heat and dust of the glitzy IPL. However, Virat is an immensely proud man who is also the second highest run-getter in the IPL, lest we forget that, and his failure to make his side into a success will rankle with the best batsman in the world.

Turning it around with a spate of victories this season seems a bit improbable for RCB this time and the focus should be to let go of the defeatist mindset in the remainder of the games. Virat cannot carry the albatross of the IPL failures into the World Cup or else India might begin the tournament on the back-foot, psychologically at least.

Follow Sportskeeda for all the updates on IPL score 2019, purple cap, points table, schedule, news, orange cap and fantasy tips.