West Indian cricket legend Brian Lara has advised Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to “realize their over-reliance on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers” and must change if they want to consistently perform and win the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the near future.
He further pointed out that RCB played some good cricket but their inconsistency hurt them at IPL 2020 after Kohli and his team were knocked out of the title race following their 6-wicket loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator on Friday (November 6) in Abu Dhabi.
Lara told Star Sports after RCB’s another painful exit from IPL 13, “They (RCB) played very good cricket, sometimes a little bit inconsistent. They did not finish in the top 2 when they had that opportunity. I think what they have to do is just assess the situation and realize the reliance on over-reliance on Kohli and AB de Villiers has to change, moving forward.”
Meanwhile, former Australia fast bowler Brett Lee also agreed with Lara's comments, saying RCB can't be over-reliant on the two superstar batsmen while stressing the franchise must work on having a better structure around them to do better in the T20 league.
Lee further explained his point, “I think they relied too heavily on their big guns. When you look at Virat Kohli, the captain, and ABD, two massive players in their line-up. But I think they need a bit of structure around them. Everyone fails in T20 cricket, that happens. I think they need to get the younger players to come up. Devdutt Padikkal is definitely a player for the future.”
However, Lara said the ongoing IPL 2020 season has been positive for RCB as they made the playoffs after a few bad seasons and now they can build on from hereon for IPL 2021.
He signed off by saying, “Disappointment yes, but they haven't been in this position for some years so they got to this position and maybe build from here.”
