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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had an impressive first half of the 2021 IPL season in India. They won five of their seven matches and were third in the points table when the season was halted due to COVID-19.
RCB defeated defending champions Mumbai Indians by two wickets in Chennai in the tournament opener. They then got the better of Sunrisers Hyderabad (6 runs), Kolkata Knight Riders (38 runs) and Rajasthan Royals (10 wickets).
Their first defeat came against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who bested the Bengaluru-based franchise by 69 runs in a chase of 192. RCB rallied to edge past Delhi Capitals (DC) by one run in a thrilling encounter. In their final match before the tournament was suspended, Bangalore were handed a 34-run defeat by Punjab Kings.
RCB players who underperformed during the India leg
With IPL 2021 set to resume next month in the UAE, we take a look at three RCB players who will be looking to improve on their disappointing performances from the first phase.
#1 Dan Christian
To say that Dan Christian had a poor outing would be an understatement. The RCB all-rounder played three matches, scored three runs and did not pick up a wicket. His scores in the three matches that he featured in read: 1, 1 and 1.
His only highlight was the sensational catch he took to dismiss Shubman Gill in the match against KKR.
The Australian is a talented all-rounder who can get quick runs with the bat and is more than handy with the ball. The 38-year-old has played 357 T20 games in which he has scored over 5000 runs at a strike rate of nearly 140. With the ball, he has claimed 261 scalps at a strike rate of 20.50, with two fifers.
RCB would hope Christian’s extraordinary T20 skills come to the fore when IPL 2021 resumes.
#2 Yuzvendra Chahal
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has been a star performer for RCB over the years. Of late, though, his fortunes have been on the downslide. After an impressive IPL 2020, in which he claimed 21 wickets at a strike rate of 16.33, Chahal only managed four wickets in seven matches in the first half of IPL 2021.
Chahal went wicketless in the first two matches of the season. In fact, he was smashed for 41 runs in the tournament opener against Mumbai Indians. The 31-year-old’s best performance came against KKR, where he claimed 2/34.
The spinner will be buoyed by his performance on the Sri Lanka tour. He claimed five wickets in two ODIs and registered figures of 1/19 in the only T20I he featured in before being forced into quarantine.
#3 Virat Kohli
Going by the lofty standards that he sets for himself, Virat Kohli has had an underwhelming IPL 2021 campaign. He scored 198 runs in seven matches at a strike rate of 121.47 and an average of 33.
Kohli got a number of starts in the first half of the tournament but could not build on them. The RCB captain began with a 33-run knock against MI and made the same score against SRH as well.
His best performance came against Rajasthan Royals, when he hammered an unbeaten 72 off 47 balls and featured in an unbroken stand of 181 with Devdutt Padikkal (101* off 52). RCB thrashed RR by 10 wickets, chasing down a target of 178 in 16.3 overs.
RCB will be hoping he can rediscover his best form when he takes the field in the UAE for the next chapter of the tournament.
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