What a pathetic season AAARRRRR CEEEE BEEEEE is having, sticking to their tradition of losing game after game with just a solitary win on the board till now in this season of 2024. If any team gets a prize for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, time and time again, it must be reserved for this TEAM RCB!
Why have the founding principles of the IPL been diluted? One of them is the presence of an iconic hero of the State the franchise is from (like Kumble from Bengaluru, Sachin from Mumbai, Sourav from Kolkata, Sehwag from Delhi, Lakshman from Hyderabad, Chennai being an exception had Ashwin and others from the State).Not to be prejudiced, RCB has just one player (Vyshak Vijaykumar) presently, representing the State of Karnataka where RCB is based. He too, has been warming the benches for most of the games except for one where, though he picked up a wicket and was the most economical bowler, wasn't given a chance further.
Top-order batting has been failing consistently and chases have been reduced to a joke as is the target setting, while batting first.
We have a bowler in Siraj hitting more sixes and runs in this IPL season than the specialist batter Glenn Maxwell while the latter has more wickets than the former. What an irony!! Maxwell must be rested till he can clear his head off the match-winning batting of last year’s World Cup and get down to the ground to face the reality of the IPL. To emphasise; Maxwell has scored just 5 runs in as many balls he faced and in as many matches this season. What an utter failure of this resource? RCB batters don’t value their wickets at all, it appears. I point out to Maxwell again, and a few others for choosing their shots and throwing their wickets. They seem to play very casually with no seriousness or commitment.
Bowling strength, or lack of it, is very evident in the quality of the bowlers. It is sad to note that RCB’s bowlers have not emulated their opponents’ strategy of bowling slower ones which they effectively used, whenever RCB batted first. Further, RCB’s speedsters have the knack of bowling wides and giving away valuable runs while bowling an extra ball each time. Where is the spin attack?
How about the management of the franchise? All that brouhaha about Vijay Mallya and his antics till the 2016 season is no match for all that is happening, post his departure and losing out the control of RCB. Where is the professionalism in either the team selection (both for the franchise and for each of the matches, as well) or the strategies followed in each of the games? Is there a policy in rewarding or punishing the players based on their performances, if any? What are the professional managers in the management team doing?
RCB fans are the worst sufferers so far, with their only consolation being, winning the Women’s Premier League in its second season! The RCB men's team had this opportunity to win in their second season, in Johannesburg South Africa. I almost feared a deja vu during the WPL this time when RCB Women's team played the final match against DC but the Women's team held on to their nerves and won the cup!
By the way, being a staunch RCB supporter (this is my erstwhile company's team), I was lucky to have had the opportunity to provide support services in 2009, in South Africa as I was based there.
Beware, Team RCB! The patience of your fans is wearing out. Time and time again, the loyal fans have been screaming their hearts out “Ee Sala Cup Namde” but they have been deprived of the joys of it, all these years.
Hopefully, they think the Men’s Team will derive impetus from the win of the Women’s Team and perform at their peak, this time around. But the way they have been playing, it appears that the maiden cup win is still a pipe dream.
Up the ante you blokes, for it is time you delivered the stuff. You have practiced enough for the last 16 years and it is high time you performed!
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