IPL 2019: Despite win over CSK, the lack of intent by RCB batsmen on a belter of a pitch is worrying

The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) scraped through to a 1-run victory over the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Bengaluru and kept their hopes alive in IPL 2019. They managed to get over the line on the back of a good bowling performance, until the 20th over at least.

CSK skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and put RCB in to bat on a belter of a pitch at the Chinnaswamy, but the RCB batsmen never really got going.

The CSK bowlers had their plans in place for the legendary duo of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. They constantly bowled wide to Kohli and made him try to cut the ball. And the plan worked like a charm; Kohli nicked an out-swinger off Deepak Chahar and MSD gleefully gobbled up the chance.

The men in yellow bowled short to De Villiers, and he struggled to get going. Soon enough, he skied one off Ravindra Jadeja and was caught by his fellow countryman Faf Du Plessis.

Parthiv Patel was the lone warrior for RCB, scoring a dashing 53 off 37 balls. De Villiers, Moeen Ali and Marcus Stoinus got good starts but failed to make them count.

The RCB team management made a few questionable decisions regarding the batting order. Akshdeep Nath was sent ahead of Ali even though the Englishman was coming off a spectacular half-century in the game against KKR. Ali is a good player of spin and could've negotiated the CSK spinners well.

After Nath got out, Stoinus came in instead of Ali, which again was a bad decision because it was too early in the innings for the Australian power hitter. Ali could've come in and built a partnership with Patel.

The Chinnaswamy is known for its utopian batting conditions, and 161 was below par, especially against a batting lineup like that of CSK. But the visitors' top order perished quickly and it it looked like RCB would cruise to a comfortable victory, before Dhoni showed his true class by taking it deep.

RCB managed to get over the line in a match that could've easily slipped away. The batters have to take more responsibility and show more intent if RCB are to get out of their last position in the IPL points table and progress to the knockout stage of the tournament.

Follow Sportskeeda for all the updates on IPL 2019purple cap, points table, schedule, news, live scores, orange cap and fantasy tips.