Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir slammed Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and called them an undeserving team to qualify for the IPL 13 playoffs. He said the side was fortunate to reach the top four despite an unimpressive outing in the second phase of the IPL 2020.
Speaking on ESPNCricinfo, Gambhir, who led Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL titles, felt RCB bowlers performed well because they were not playing at the Chinnaswamy stadium.
RCB got knocked out of the tournament after losing against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Eliminator on Nov 6. The batting unit failed to put up a decent total on the board, and they had to pay the price for it.
“Ok, you can defend as much as you want. You can keep saying ‘You know what, we qualified for the playoffs, we deserve to qualify for the playoffs. Absolutely not. RCB actually never deserved to qualify for the playoffs,” Gambhir said on ESPNCricinfo.
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“If you see the last 4-5 games, and even that one Super Over actually against Mumbai Indians. They were very fortunate that Navdeep Saini bowled that last over brilliantly. Otherwise, they didn’t have a great season, from the batting point of view and the bowling point of view.”
Talking about the bowling performance, Gambhir made it clear that the problem for RCB starts with Virat Kohli's captaincy.
“Yes, bowling will look better because you’re not playing at the Chinnaswamy because that’s a graveyard for bowlers, no doubt about it. But then yes, when there are bigger grounds, when there are wickets which might help the bowler a little bit, it will always feel that you’ve had a good bowling season,” he pointed out.
“If you have Mohammed Siraj bowling the last two overs, and you’re defending 18 and 19, it’s going to be difficult against any international top-quality batter. There are a lot of problems. The problems start with the management, it starts with the support staff. And then most importantly, the problem starts with the leadership.”
(WITH ESPNCRICINFO INPUTS)
