Cannot blame Virat Kohli for team's failure: Sanjay Bangar

The franchise from Bangalore has always had the X-factor to go the distance. Over the years their team management has left no stone unturned to sneak the big names into their ranks. In three auctions, they even went out spending a major part of their purse to buy Kevin Pietersen, Yuvraj Singh and Shane Watson. However, the title has eluded them for 10 seasons now.

When you discuss RCB, the modern day great Virat Kohli becomes the instinctual focus. He has undoubtedly been their face over the last few seasons now even though their side boasts of heavyweights like Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers. A majority of the times, Kohli has been the man to look after for RCB. Both Gayle and de Villiers have failed to step up on important occasions.

Over the years Bangalore has been dependent heavily on the broad shoulders of the Jamaican to provide them with the much-needed momentum at the top of the order. However, since 2014 his form has seen a drop so much so that RCB had to drop the big man from the XI, which would have been inconceivable about four years ago. Altogether, RCB has missed out on a team effort. They have looked good whenever Kohli is in the middle, but after his departure, others haven’t taken the responsibility to finish the game.

The Indian skipper had a dream season last year as he scored close to 1000 runs fetching four centuries to take RCB into the final. His feat did wonders for the side as RCB struggled in the first half of the season and it was Kohli’s extraordinary run, which provided Bangalore the kick to make it to the final. Coming into the tenth edition of the cash-rich Indian Premier League Kohli’s form was always going to be the key to RCB’s hopes.

However, he had a disappointing outing this time around as he has managed to score only 250 runs from 9 games at an average of 27.77. This has largely affected Bangalore’s overall performance as they find themselves at the bottom of the table with just 2 wins from 13 matches.

India’s batting coach Sanjay Bangar disagrees with those who blame Virat for his team’s failure. Speaking exclusively with India Today he said, “Royal Challengers Bangalore can’t rely on Virat Kohli all the time”.

“If you look at the teams that have not done well like Delhi and RCB, both missed key players due to injury. Even Gujarat missed Andrew Tye who was a key player. RCB missed KL Rahul and Sarfaraz. Delhi missed Quinton De Kock and JP Duminy. All this affects your preparation and plans,” added Bangar.

Altogether it is quite important for RCB to gel together as a team and come back next year with a better and bigger effort if they are to make a bigger impact in the coming editions of the T20 extravaganza. They cannot piggy-back on the shoulders of one man for a long time.