IPL 2020: 5 big disappointments for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 13

RCB finished fourth on the points table, losing to SRH in the Eliminator.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had come into the IPL 2020 with many hopes. They had splurged in the auction in order to fill their squad to overcome some of their issues in past tournaments.

The major one being the fast bowling unit which bled runs in death overs and had cost RCB two games in IPL 2019 at home in M Chinnaswamy stadium. This time around, they had invested in likes of Dale Steyn, Chris Morris, Kane Richardson (who was later replaced by Adam Zampa), and Isuru Udana to strengthen their bowling unit.

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They had retained Yuzvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Pawan Negi, and Moeen Ali. Add Aaron Finch and Josh Philippe to the mix and the RCB team led by Virat Kohli and aided by AB de Villiers looked a formidable unit as well.

They started off well in the tournament also, winning seven out of 10 matches at the start and comfortably qualified for the playoffs of IPL 13. However, chinks were noticed in their armor as the form of Aaron Finch with the bat and bowling unit woes continued to haunt them. Umesh Yadav was benched after 2 games in which he conceded 83 runs.

However, there were five players who were expected to be the stand out performers for the team in the IPL 2020 but failed to live up to the expectations of the RCB fans.

Check out the 5 big disappointments for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 13

SHIVAM DUBE

Shivam Dube had been highly considered as a big-hitter thanks to his five sixes in an over in a Mumbai T20 league match two years back. This led to him getting a huge INR 5 Cr deal with the Royal Challengers Bangalore for IPL 2019. He performed admirably and good enough to be retained for the IPL 2020 as well.

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In meantime, Dube had played international cricket for India as well and his stocks were at an all-time high and a lot was expected from him when the tournament was shifted to UAE. However, in the 11 matches he played, Dube made 129 runs with a strike-rate of 122.85 and picked 4 wickets at an economy of 8.11.

A decent outing for someone who batted at no.6 and got to bowl filler overs. But given the amount spent on Dube and him being designated the finisher’s spot, with Chris Morris out initially with an injury, the left-handed batsman couldn’t live up to the expectations and RCB must think about retaining him for the IPL 2021 as well.

DALE STEYN

It was painful to see a legend like Dale Steyn being treated so badly by the batsmen, who would have struggled to get bat on the ball if he was in his prime. The 37-year-old had a good start to his IPL 2020, picking 1/33 against Sunrisers Hyderabad, but after that, the script went horribly wrong for the legend.

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He went for 57 runs against Kings XI Punjab in the 6^th match of the IPL 13, as KL Rahul smashed him to all parts of the Dubai cricket stadium. He was then benched for the better part of the tournament, before being called up for a crunch match against Mumbai Indians in the 48^th encounter of the IPL 2020.

However, things went from bad to worse as Steyn conceded 43 runs in 4 overs as RCB looked to defend 164 runs against MI. Suryakumar Yadav shepherded the MI chase and this proved to be Steyn’s last match before RCB were eliminated from the tournament.

Overall, he picked 1 wicket in 3 matches at an economy of 11.40 and an average of 133. It must be heartbreaking to see one of the all-time greats of the game like this.

ISURU UDANA

Isuru Udana was a surprise late pick by the RCB for his base price of INR 50 lakhs. An exponent of a variety of deliveries in cricket, Udana was seen as an asset for the team, especially on the slow tracks of the UAE, in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

He is considered a limited-overs specialist for Sri Lanka and has done well lately in international cricket as well and a lot was expected from him, given his experience as well. Udana played 10 matches and picked 8 wickets at an economy of 9.72.

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RCB had him pegged as a death overs bowler and he did his best to keep the runs down, but once the batsmen got acquainted with his variations, he proved to be a sitting duck for big hitters. Even though he tried everything, and performed nicely, it probably wasn’t enough to impress those who mattered.

His experience vouched for more wickets in death overs at a better economy and his numbers just didn’t quite reflect what was expected from him and showed that he failed to live up to those expectations.

AARON FINCH

Australia’s limited-overs captain Aaron Finch turned out for his eighth franchise in the IPL, when Royal Challengers Bangalore bought him for INR 1 cr. Finch is the only batsman in T20I cricket to have two scores of 150 plus to his name, including the highest T20I and second-highest T20 individual score of 172.

He comes in with a big reputation and has won the Big Bash League leading the Melbourne Renegades team in Australia. However, for some reason, he has not managed to set the IPL on fire, despite having a technique that is tailor-made for such cricket. RCB must have put a lot of thought into bringing him in as an opener.

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Before him, Virat Kohli opened the innings with Parthiv Patel for most of the IPL 2019, but this season, AB de Villiers took over the keeping duties in order to free up space for Finch at the top. Unfortunately, despite backing him to the hilt, Finch just couldn’t come good in the way RCB had hoped.

In 12 matches, he passed 50 only once and made 268 runs at an average of 22.33 and strike-rate of 111.20, far cry from his T20 strike-rate of 142.46 and average of 35.52. Only 8 sixes and 28 fours came from his bat, meaning that he couldn’t take advantage of the powerplays as RCB would have liked and it contributed to extra pressure on De Villiers and Kohli later in the batting department.

VIRAT KOHLI

RCB fans will not be happy seeing captain Virat Kohli in this list, especially after making 466 runs with the highest score of 90* at an average of 42.36 and a strike-rate of 121.35. He hit 11 sixes and 23 fours in total, making three half-centuries.

And there is the problem with Kohli, as his slow batting in middle overs sucked the momentum out of the innings. Had it not being for AB de Villiers, who scored his 454 runs at a strike-rate of 158.74, RCB would have lost quite a few more matches, thanks to long periods of inactivity in middle overs.

Kohli relied on running between the wickets, but the opposition captain and bowlers were smart in plugging those gaps for him to exploit and it resulted in him getting out trying to hit the big shots or left it to his partner to do the heavy hitting job.

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His captaincy was as usual and though RCB did well to reach the playoffs, they did so after losing their last four matches in the league stage and were eliminated by Sunrisers in their fifth straight loss.

There have been calls for RCB to relieve Kohli of the captaincy, but he is too big a name for RCB management to take the captaincy away from, given that he also leads the Indian team.

But despite leading RCB for 8 years now, his inability to win a single IPL title begs questioning of how long can RCB continue with him as captain, and the possibility of a new captain bringing in a fresh approach and ideas to the table, seems a lucrative offer as well.