"Their big players didn't really join the party" - Aakash Chopra on RCB's elimination from IPL 2022 after Qualifier 2 loss to RR

Aakash Chopra has pointed out that Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) big-ticket players' failure to deliver the goods in the IPL 2022 Qualifier 2 encounter against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) led to their ouster from the tournament.

RCB managed a below-par score of 157/8 after being asked to bat first, with Rajat Patidar being the only notable contributor. Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell aggregated 56 runs when a lot more was expected from the experienced trio.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra highlighted that RCB should be proud of their season. However, he added that their main players let them down slightly, explaining:

"RCB - they should be proud of how they played. Their big players didn't really join the party and it was all left to Patidar, that he should rescue them once again. Even 157 wouldn't have been scored if Riyan Parag had held Rajat Patidar's catch, your team would have been restricted to 135-140."

Reflecting on RCB's batting effort in Friday's game, the former India batter had the following to say about Kohli's dismissal:

"The start was not good because Virat Kohli got out again. Prasidh Krishna has dismissed Virat Kohli consecutively, he dismissed him in the last match and here as well. He flirted with an away-going delivery and got the edge although he had hit a six in the first over."

Kohli was caught behind by Sanju Samson off Prasidh Krishna's bowling after having scored just seven runs. The former India skipper had fallen prey to the Karnataka pacer in the last clash between the two sides as well.

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"Faf was struggling at the other end" - Aakash Chopra on the other RCB batters

Faf du Plessis scored at less than run-a-ball [[P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra added that RCB would have been in deeper trouble had Riyan Parag not put down Rajat Patidar's catch in the early stages of his innings. He reasoned:

"If Rajat Patidar's catch had been held, the match wouldn't have gone this far because Faf was struggling at the other end, scored 25 runs in 27 balls. In the last match, Virat Kohli had scored 25 runs in 24 balls. When big players don't score runs in big matches, this team cannot win."

The reputed commentator concluded by observing that Maxwell played a breezy but short knock. Chopra elaborated:

"Rajat won them the last match but it cannot happen every time. Maxwell was there for some time, 24 runs off 13 balls but then one too many, it was actually a very good catch by Obed McCoy. They just could not get going. 157 - not good enough."

The 158-run target did not prove a challenge for the Royals. Sanju Samson's side won the match by seven wickets with 11 deliveries to spare to book a spot in the IPL 2022 final.

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