Royal Challengers Bangalore must address these 5 things or they can opt against playing in IPL 2020

If one thing has remained unreachable in the cricketing career of Virat Kohli, it is the Indian Premier League (IPL) title. The India captain leads one of the most popular franchises of the T20 tournament – Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) – but in his seven years of captaincy now, the challengers remained challengers and never could be the winners. The 2019 season saw them finishing last among four teams yet again after 2017 and the nosedive came after they finished runners-up in the 2016 edition.

In all, the RCB have finished second on three occasions with Anil Kumble and Daniel Vettori remaining the other two unfortunate predecessors to Kohli who fell in the last hurdle in 2009 and 2011, respectively. Apart from Delhi Capitals (formerly Daredevils), no other franchise in the IPL has been as consistently disappointing as RCB although the DC have looked strong this time.

It time for the RCB to overhaul themselves completely, putting an end to a predictably disheartening pattern they come up with every year or be shown the door for a more competent side.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore need to make some urgent changes to their way of thinking if they aspire to improve things in the next edition in 2020:

1. Change Kohli as captain:

Yes, it might sound blasphemous for the RCB supporters but that is the way to go about it. In fact, changing Kohli as the captain might not be too bad an idea for the team has anyhow hit a dead end. Captaining for seven years at a stretch is not something small but since the captain hasn’t been able to earn anything significant in this time (best performance was to make the final in 2016 while they made the last four only twice), a change can always be a refreshing step.

One of the biggest drawbacks for RCB has been the captain’s tactical errors. Kohli kept on making changes in the team frequently, thereby giving the players very little time to settle and deliver. In fact, Kohli betrayed his own words when he made three changes to the team even after promising following a thrashing in the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad by 118 runs that no changes were to be made.

Another poor season will certainly give rise to a voice against the ace batsman’s captaincy but changing him beforehand can help him save his grace. Let Kohli do the batting bit and leave the top job to somebody who has a better reading of the T20 game. One must remember that Kohli also falters more in T20 cricket as the national captain compared to other formats. If he himself steps down, it will be the best thing to happen for the RCB.

2. Back local players more:

One of the biggest reasons why the Challengers have done badly in this IPL is their over-reliance on a few players, mainly batters, and they include Kohli and AB de Villiers. The exit of Chris Gayle a season back has removed the third leg of their batting tripod and every time it’s either of the two arms that the RCB look up to for scoring.

The Royal Challengers is one such franchise in the IPL which is more obsessed with the big names. Earlier it was Gayle and now it is Kohli and ABD. The strange part is that the team attaches equally less importance to the home-grown talents. A number of Karnataka’s own talents are flourishing for other sides.

RCB drops young talents from their team frequently and that never allows either the players or the team to settle. The franchise goes on losing games with little improvement because the core of the team is always being disturbed.

3. Stopping frequent change in opening partners:

The current season saw the RCB opting for too many opening combinations, hoping that one or the other will deliver. Kohli himself opened with wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel while Moeen Ali and Shimron Hetmyer also chipped in as openers in other games.

A lot of successful teams in the IPL have set openers who have their roles defined but not so much in the RCB, especially after the exit of Chris Gayle. In fact, Kohli their best batsman himself prefers to bat at No.3 which is also his spot in the Indian limited-overs team. Despite the lack of a stable batter to take up that role, he has had to move up the order, he might have got the runs but it still leaves the middle order vulnerable.

On the same front, they backed Hetmyer for the first four games and then he was dropped for the next nine, ultimately in the final game of the season, he got a go and made it count with a match-winning half century. A better understanding of talent and its utilization can certainly bring about a change in fortunes.

4. It seems there are too many voices in the decision-making:

It is quite understandable that when the team is not doing good, the management faces a period of indecisiveness and confusion and there is a tendency of meddling more into the captain’s job. If any such thing has been happening in the RCB camp after the team’s disappointing campaign to start with, it needs to stop.

This time around we saw Ashish Nehra, in particular, making gestures from the sidelines prompting or rather making Kohli do certain things he wouldn’t have done on his own. Irrespective of whether it paid off or not, it puts the captain under more pressure and the team can go rudderless.

However, to neutralise this pattern altogether, RCB need to play with one brain and dictate terms on the field to make winning a habit. That’s clearly not happened in the last three seasons.

5. Need to pick better overseas players:

Players like Dale Steyn do not really add value to a T20 side now. There is no doubt about their talents but it is fitness that has kept him on the sidelines. Withdrawal of ageing players mid-way into the tournament doesn’t help the team’s cause, especially when it is left wanting in the bowling department.

Colin de Grandhomme has been with the team for a while without a significant impact while Heinrich Klassen, Hetmyer and Tim Southee remained largely unutilised in the RCB team. Only de Villiers and Marcus Stoinis (though he wasn’t too effective) got to play a meaty role for which again showed that the management wasn’t too convinced about picking the right overseas players over a long period.

Another reason for the RCB’s poor show is their bowlers’ lack of discipline. Some of their frontline bowlers have gone for too many runs this season and the leak, especially in the death overs, proved costly. Poor fielding standards have been another reason why the RCB have failed to deliver. Kohli himself has been a culprit in this edition as he went on dropping catches.

It is important for a team with the name and the eyes following it to deliver or perish. If the Royal Challengers Bangalore cannot get the results it promises better relegate the team and bring in a new eight franchise.

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