IPL 2018: 5 reasons for RCB's dismal performances this season

Royal Challengers Bangalore, the perennial underachievers, have done it again. Last night’s defeat at the hands of the Sunrisers Hyderabad has put them in a position they are all too familiar with. Needing to win all of their remaining matches even before last night’s defeat, RCB find themselves in IPL Purgatory, and even with wins in their remaining 4 games, will be dependent on other teams to see if they can make it to the playoffs.

So what went wrong for a squad touted by many to be the favourite for the 2018 title? Here is a look at 5 reasons for RCB’s dismal performance in IPL 2018:

#1 Struggling to find the right combination

A feature of RCB this season has been the constant chopping and changing to their starting XI in a bid to hit the right combination. Early season bowling woes meant that RCB could never settle upon the right combination of five bowlers while a brittle middle order and lack of explosiveness at the top meant that the batting order too was in a constant state of flux.

Players never seemed to have well-defined roles and the constant changing meant no player was given an opportunity to play their way out of poor form. For an incoming player too, it is incredibly difficult to perform right from the get-go and the lack of confidence showed in their performances in crunch time.

Squad rotation is never a bad idea, and one can understand why RCB made changes as they searched for answers, but when you are struggling to win, often a little consistency is what helps bring the team together. RCB were never able to find the consistency they needed to string together a row of wins and it cost them in this tournament.

#2 Over-reliance on AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers

In AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli, RCB possess arguably two of the world’s greatest batsmen in the short format. But RCB linked their fortunes inextricably with the two. How ABD and Virat went determined how RCB performed. For their part, the two have been their usual brilliant selves, with Kohli amassing 396 runs in 10 innings alongside AB, who has 286 runs from 8 innings at a strike rate of 174.

In games where neither was able to get runs, RCB needed somebody else to stand up and take responsibility, but nobody did. RCB’s last 2 games have been a prime example of this. Against Chennai in Pune, when Kohli was dismissed for 8 and AB for 1, RCB folded for 127. Last night too, when Kohli and AB were dismissed in successive overs at a critical point in the chase, nobody was able to take over the run chase, and RCB fell short of a modest target of 146, by 5 runs.

RCB’s brittle middle order was never able to provide the two with the support in the middle overs that they needed and ultimately hurt the team’s chances.

#3 Death Bowling

RCB have struggled at the death

RCB went into this year’s auction with a very specific plan: to revamp their bowling unit which had been their Achilles’ heel in seasons past. They did a very good job in building what seemed on paper a very balanced attack spearheaded by Umesh Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, and supported by big international names in Tim Southee and Chris Woakes.

Captain Kohli went so far as to say before the tournament that this year, it would be their bowling attack and not their batsmen who would win them games. However, this season followed a script similar to that of previous seasons. Their first few games of the season were defined by a disappointing bowling performance in the death overs. Bowlers struggled to hit the yorkers and were taken to the cleaners.

Rajasthan, Mumbai and Chennai all crossed the 200 run mark against RCB this season, and in each of those games, RCB conceded 88, 70 and 71 respectively in the last 5 overs. Kohli tried a number of different bowlers at the death from Umesh Yadav to Chris Woakes to Mohammed Siraj and Corey Anderson, but every single one of them failed to plug the leak.

In this format, matches can be won or lost in an over, and so getting comprehensively outplayed over a period of five overs can be fatal. RCB’s inability to stay in the game towards the end of the innings meant they were always fighting an uphill battle.

#4 Shot Selection

RCB's batsmen have often thrown away their wicket

When you have batsmen of the calibre of Quinton De Kock, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Brendon McCullum in your side, you would expect most bowling attacks to have a tough time. Save for a couple of games though, RCB’s batting has been distinctly average this season and they themselves have been responsible for their downfall.

RCB batsmen this season (Kohli and De Villiers included) have been guilty of throwing away their wicket at critical moments in the game with poor shot selection. Pitches across different stadiums all over the country this year have been on the slower and drier side this season, with the ball holding up on the surface a little more and more turn on offer.

RCB batsmen failed to read the conditions on a number of occasions and were found wanting against quality bowlers. There was very little responsible shot making with wickets often going down in a bunch. Each RCB innings was littered with a number of soft dismissals. For a team that prided itself on having the best batting line up, this season exposed the chinks in its armour and teams exploited this to the fullest.

#5 Inability to win on the road

Kohli's men have struggled away from home

The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore is a feared place for most teams to go to. Buoyed by a raucous and passionate fan base, RCB have dominated teams at their home ground, making full use of the short boundaries and knowledge of home conditions; and while their home form has been slightly below par, winning only three out of their 6 games so far, it's been their away form that has really let them down.

RCB have been on the road four times this season and have lost every single one of these games. As spoken about earlier, RCB struggled to adapt to different conditions in different places and failed to pick up wins. To win a tournament of this magnitude, it is vital to win on the road and unlike the leading teams like the Sunrisers, who have won 3 out of their 4 games on the road so far, and the Chennai Super Kings who have won 3 out of their 5 road games, RCB have been unable to pick up crucial points on the road.