IPL 2017, KKR vs RCB: 5 Things that went wrong for the Royal Challengers Bangalore

The contest between Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Kolkata Knight Riders was one-way traffic in favour of the Knights, but the quality of cricket, especially from the Knight Riders, was worth appreciating as they romped home by six wickets to stay in contention for a top-two berth.

Virat Kohli and co. would’ve wished to salvage some pride after an embarrassing season, but their horrendous run continued. After losing the toss, the Royal Challengers Bangalore were sent in to bat by Gautam Gambhir.

The target of 158 looked a fighting total, but Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn made a mockery of the target with some scorching display of stroke-play. The plans that the RCB think tank had, failed miserably.

We analyse five mistakes the Royal Challengers made in their contest against the Kolkata Knight Riders.

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#5 Kohli and de Villiers’ shot selection

After Chris Gayle’s dismissal, the onus was on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to shepherd them to a competitive total. However, both played poor strokes to give their wickets away.

Kohli survived an almighty scare when Piyush Chawla spilt him at mid-off, but fell prey to a slower delivery from Umesh Yadav. Kohli went for an ugly swat on the leg side, missed it altogether and the ball thudded on to the pads to give Umesh and the Knights their second scalp in three overs.

Extra Cover: IPL 2017, RCB vs KKR: Umesh Yadav deceives Virat Kohli with a slower delivery

AB de Villiers had to drag RCB out of the pits and he started handsomely with a couple of boundaries. But Narine foxed him cunningly with a full-pitched delivery that went crashing into the stumps. The South African exposed all his stumps that led to his dismissal.

#4 Too slow for way too long

Mandeep Singh scored a 50 but his strike rate was way below par

Courtesy Travis Head’s stupendous knock, RCB posted a decent total on the board, but they had to score 43 runs in the last three overs to reach the score, which showed that RCB struggled to find their feet in the initial 17 overs of the match where they scored 115 runs.

The three early jolts pushed the Challengers back, which didn’t help their cause one bit. Nevertheless, a solid stand between Travis Head and Mandeep Singh brought them back into contention. The partnership yielded 71 runs in 63 runs and both batsmen eked out half-centuries, but runs didn’t flow off their bats during the partnership.

The scoreboard kept moving, but RCB needed runs in a flurry, which never came until the 18^th over when Head went berserk to hit it all over the park.

#3 Chahal and Badree neutralised

Chris Lynn scored a half-century on his return from injury and took on RCB’s spinners

Samuel Badree and Yuzvendra Chahal are the trump cards of the Challengers’ bowling line up and needed to pick quick wickets to keep RCB in the hunt. They were trusted to bowl in the powerplay overs to push the KKR batsmen back.

Extra Cover: IPL 2017, Stats: Kolkata Knight Riders smash the highest powerplay score in IPL history

However, Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine mercilessly carted them to all corners of the ground to haemorrhage runs at will. The Knight Riders openers went hell for leather to take the sting out of the RCB leg spinners.

Badree and Chahal were taken for seven colossal sixes by the left-handed and right-handed opening pair. While Chahal picked up a consolation wicket, Badree went for 40 runs in his three overs, which ended any chance of an RCB victory.

#2 Lack of a genuine pacer

Tymal Mills did not play for RCB against KKR

A proper combination of a bowling line up is of prime importance in a T20 game, which helps teams choke opponents. On some days, one aspect of bowling may not fall in place and that’s when the variations come in as a backup.

RCB was palpably seen struggling in that aspect, when they needed a genuine fast bowler to come to their rescue. When spinners were taken for plenty in their initial overs, the Challengers needed an out and out fast bowler to step into the fore, but RCB had none. They helplessly stuck to their spinners and things turned for the worse.

Virat Kohli’s side have Tymal Mills, Billy Stanlake and Adam Milne in their ranks, but unfortunately, none took the field.

#1 Aravind’s off day

Sunil Narine hit Aravind for a huge six to bring up us his half-century

Sreenath Aravind was the most experienced fast bowler in the Challengers bowling line up and he needed to deliver when KKR batsmen were taking the spinners apart. Aravind had to come to the party, but instead, his over turned out to be horrific for RCB.

Extra Cover: IPL 2017, RCB vs KKR: Sunil Narine's blitz is the SK Play of the Day

He bowled his only over within the powerplay and was ruthlessly hammered for 26 runs that included four boundaries and a monstrous six by Sunil Narine. To be more precise, it was the six that gave the Indian Premier League and Narine their fastest fifties.

There were also a couple of wides in the over that added insult to injury in an already shambolic over from the left-arm pacer from Karnataka.