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

#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.