Another Indian Premier League season, another Royal Challengers Bangalore debacle. The RCB has always come under scrutiny and criticism of various cricket lovers for their poor performances. This season they are languishing in the bottom half of the table with only 3 wins out of 10 games and have no literal chance of qualifying for the playoffs anymore.
This year the criticism is not limited to the team but Virat Kohli, one of their best batsmen and Captain, has also come under the fire for his indifferent batting form and captaincy.
Gary Kirsten their batting coach though, believes it is very unfair for Virat Kohli to be criticised for RCB's fortunes. Kirsten was recently quoted saying, “I think he(Virat) takes a lot on himself and puts a lot on his plate which I think is unfair,”
“It is a team sport and he can’t win every game on his own and it does put pressure on him. IPL is a very intense tournament and there is a lot at stake around winning and losing and the players feel the pressure and I think he also feels it more. Maybe with the Indian team, there is also a lot of good players around so probably less test to his individual performance. We have tried as hard as anything to try and take the pressure off him and AB de Villiers.”
Talking about whether RCB got their team wrong at the auction this year. Kirsten said, “I wasn’t involved in the recruitment of the team, the decisions were made at the beginning of the tournament and everyone said it looks like a very good team. But yes there have been areas where we have struggled no doubt. I don’t know what’s the plan is whether we are going to fill the gaps in the next auction or what, I don’t know. I can just offer my opinion but some else will have to go and make the decision.”
He further said, “This season, we have played 10, won three and lost seven, it is not a great record. It’s been a tough year. It is my first year with RCB and it is quite nice being an assistant coach because I might be the second guy who might be fired and not the first one. It has been a tough year. We have got great players and every uphill team has had a good team. It is a tough tournament and if you start losing games very quickly you can lose momentum and it becomes very difficult to win a game.”
