He said the failure of Kohli and De Villiers puts pressure on the RCB batting line-up.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have found themselves in a tricky situation after suffering three defeats on the trot having lost momentum at the crucial stage of the ongoing IPL 2020 in the UAE.
However, RCB is currently placed at the second spot with 14 points in the IPL 2020 points table but their final league stage opposition third-place Delhi Capitals have also the equal points and they must fire all guns down to win the must-win fixture in Abu Dhabi on 2nd November 2 to qualify for the playoffs.
Ahead of their crucial clash with the DC, former Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has pointed out that the RCB is heavily dependent on skipper Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers while terming the duo “DNA of the team” and unfortunately, both are struggling to put up the consistent show.
Well, Kohli and De Villers both couldn’t deliver in the business end of the IPL 13 and even failed to form a significant partnership in the last three games as the team suffered massive defeats in the league.
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In their last IPL 2020 game against SRH, Kohli and de Villiers scored 7 and 24 respectively and RCB eventually suffered a 5-wicket loss to Hyderabad – third in a row and Chopra feels if the duo keeps failing to deliver, RCB can’t win the games in the tournament.
He believes that the failure of Kohli-de Villiers put pressure on the RCB side, saying Devdutt Padikkal, Joshua Philippe, Gurkeerat Mann are all supporting cast and the veteran stalwart must score big to ensure RCB qualify for the IPL 13 playoffs in the UAE.
Chopra said on his YouTube channel, “This game (against SRH) was all about Kohli and AB in my opinion. The RCB batting is not working. Kohli and AB are going to pay a huge price for their own success because they have set the yardstick very high and the two of them are not delivering to the standards, they have set for themselves towards the business end of the tournament.”
He signed off by saying, “So, if RCB keeps losing matches continuously and if these two players don’t score runs regularly, Padikkal, Joshua Philippe, Gurkeerat are all supporting cast. The DNA of this team is all about Kohli and AB de Villiers scoring runs and they are not doing that.”
(With Hindustan Times Inputs)