What’s the story?
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has come down hard on Virat Kohli and has said that the skipper has done next to nothing this season and this is one big reason why the fancied side have struggled this IPL season.
He also believed that the injury to KL Rahul hampered RCB in a big way as he the man-in-form this season and no one has been able to replicate him at the top of the order.
"They got on an amazing roll at the back end of last year's tournament when Kohli was playing out of his skin, de Villiers was playing well, Gayle was chipping in and Watson was doing a good job with bat and ball. But so far Kohli has done next to nothing, there's been flashes in the pan from Gayle and AB de Villiers, but the consistency just hasn't been there,” Ponting was as quoted by cricket.com.au.
"KL Rahul is a massive loss for them, he had a terrific back-end to last season. He did some amazing things last year so him not being at the top has been a big loss”, he further added.
The Details
Ponting who was the captain of the Mumbai Indians for two seasons was commenting on RCB’s season and singled out the shocking performance of the senior gun-players as the main reason for this terrible run of form.
His assessment makes all sense as the quartet of Kohli, de Villiers, Gayle and Shane Watson have all misfired almost simultaneously and as a result, the RCB have won just two of their 13 matches so far.
The Tasmanian also believed that the inconsistency of the captain did not inspire the team at crunch situations and this hindered the team in many ways. Also, Shane Watson was never comfortable in any role and hence could not establish himself in the team.
In case you didn’t know...
Kohli who could not start the IPL owing to the shoulder injury has scored only 250 runs in 9 innings at an average of 27.77. He has registered only 3 half-centuries and his highest score is 64.
The captain has already gone on record saying that season was one to forget as whatever they tried backfired big time.
What's next?
RCB will now take on Delhi Daredevils in their final game and would love to win this game to give something back to their fans. Also, they would want something to cheer about before next season when players would be shuffled around owing to auctions.
Kohli himself would be rooting for some runs before the Champions Trophy where he will lead India’s defence.
Author's Take
The fickle nature of T20 has certainly tested RCB this season and how the franchise responds to the shambolic state of affairs remains to be seen before the auctions next year.
Also, an honest and objective assessment is needed and this is where they would do well to listen to the analysis of RIcky Ponting and several other cricketers.
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