IPL 2018: RCB's much-vaunted batting line-up let them down against CSK while butter-fingered fielders piled on misery

Royal Challengers Bangalore are still in the running for a spot in the IPL 2018 playoffs. But time is fast running out on a team that promised much but now is forced to look back wistfully at what might have been. While most of the other teams, notably Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings, have got their act together, all three wings of the game — batting, bowling and fielding — have seldom worked as a cohesive unit for RCB. And this had led to painful, narrow losses that have altered RCB’s narrative. [caption id=“attachment_4457891” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] RCB players huddle before the match against Chennai Super Kings. Sportzpics[/caption] The afternoon game in hot scorching weather conditions against CSK on Saturday was a case in point. The famed RCB batting, instead of lifting the quality of their game to the challenges of a high-pressure match, collapsed inexplicably against the spin of Ravindra Jadeja and Harbhajan Singh. Later, RCB’s much-maligned bowlers did a good job while attempting to protect a small total, but the fielding flopped yet again to allow CSK to coast home. Nobody expected Parthiv Patel to keep with the brilliant efficiency of South African Quinton de Kock, who had to return home to attend a wedding. But even then, Parthiv’s shoddy work behind the stumps sunk to a new low. He dropped two catches, of champion batsmen Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo, at a time when their dismissals could have had a bearing on the result. Worse, he failed to collect the throw when a run out of Suresh Raina was a certainty. In his hurry, he executed the ‘stumping’ without the ball in hand to provide an early reprieve to CSK. Yuzvendra Chahal too dropped a sitter off Bravo to highlight the fact that RCB did not deserve to win. While the fielding could be faulted for letting down the team, the real damage to RCB’s cause was the shocking failure of its champion batsmen. It is possible that the old truism — responsibility of all is responsibility of none — stands good for RCB. How else can you explain the collective failure of a line-up which boasts of Brendon McCullum, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Mandeep Singh and Colin de Grandhomme? Four of them are proven international batting stars who have laid low many a bowler’s reputation. Yet when it came to firing against CSK, it was stand-in opener Parthiv (53) and tail-ender Tim Southee (36) who hauled the team to a barely respectable score of 127. The more accomplished players, McCullum (5), Kohli (8), ABD (1), Mandeep (7) and Grandhomme (8) flopped. Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja who clean bowled Kohli with his first delivery — a regulation straight ball — was so shocked at easily grabbing the prized scalp that he forgot to celebrate! ABD, who had just recovered from a viral infection, would certainly fall sick all over again if he watched replays of his dismissal. The champion batsman, who had single-handedly taken on India in the Tests in South Africa as well as wrecked Australian cricket’s dreams of conquest, looked a pale ghost of the past. Tragically for RCB, the collective failure of the star duo and McCullum, Mandeep, Grandhomme all happened so quickly that they did not have the time or resources to regroup. It would be comforting to state that this sort of collapse is a rare, once-in-a-blue-moon sort of occurrence. Unfortunately for RCB it came in a match, and situation, where even a total of 150 to 160 would have been a winning one. The ball was not coming on to the bat and hence batting would have been sticky in a 160-run chase. But that was not to be. After the match, Parthiv spoke of how in his 10-year IPL career he’d been in three to four turnarounds. He was confident that it could happen this time too with RCB.

Perhaps RCB’s batsman can motivate themselves to play to potential in the rest of the games. There is tremendous talent, ability and class there. But what of the fielding?

In every match, Kohli has to hide at least a couple of fielders who are ignorant of even the basics of fielding. Unfortunately for RCB the ball goes to them at key moments and they either allow the run which takes the pressure off the batsman, or drop the catch. Their understanding of angles to cut off boundaries too is horrific and these are magnified when seen in the stadium, rather than on TV where the camera follows only the ball. The news is not all bad for RCB. Pacer Tim Southee looks good with death overs bowling, Mohammed Siraj is firing his yorkers with greater consistency, Umesh Yadav seems a genuine game-changer, Quinton will be back to don the gloves. However, RCB’s fielding woes look insurmountable. Thus if they manage to win the last five matches and make the playoffs it will be despite the fielding, not because of it. Even Parthiv would know that.