New Season, Old Mistakes: RCB's 'royal' failure raises similar questions again

Royal Challengers Bangalore didn't step up to the challenge against Sunrisers Hyderabad and lost their third match on a trot at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium today. The way Virat Kohli's men performed, it seemed like a practice match for the perfectly balanced Hyderabad side as they dismantled the visitors and won the match by a huge margin of 118 runs.

The term 'underperformed' would be an understatement for RCB as the way they started this year's campaign it looks like they will surely be the easiest side to beat for any opposition in the tournament.

The batting heavy side doesn’t justify the quality they possess not just this year but in all of IPL's history. Currently, Indian run-machine Kohli has not found his Midas touch while Mr. 360-degree AB de Villiers is also not at his best, while the other batsmen are not providing any support to the team.

Every year, questions have been raised on Bangalore's bowling unit and they follow suit this year too, especially today when they got hammered mercilessly by SRH openers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow, who looked invincible against the frail bowling line-up led by Umesh Yadav.

While Sunrisers had a dream start at home, Umesh Yadav along with other Bangalore bowlers couldn't make any impact whatsoever as Warner and Bairstow shared a record 185-run partnership for the first wicket.

Apart from the poor bowling, Kohli's team selection was also not up to the mark in the match as RCB left out experienced bowler Tim Southee for the third match in a row. Southee who is also handy with the bat when it comes to pinch-hitting doesn't find a place in the RCB squad while his fellow Kiwi and under fire Colin de Grandhomme made it to the playing XI again in Hyderabad.

The toss was the only thing that went in RCB's favour on the flat track of Hyderabad on Sunday. Chasing a mammoth target of 232, RCB were so outclassed by SRH's Mohammad Nabi that they lost their top six wickets for just 40 runs. 

The heavy defeat after getting bundled out for 70 in the IPL opener has rekindled doubts on Kohli's leadership ability in the tournament.

Before the start of this year's IPL, Kohli said in a press conference that his team had rectified the mistakes they made in the previous editions.

"When we played big matches too, our decision-making wasn't right. When your decision-making is spot on and balanced, those teams win the IPL. The teams that are more relaxed, don't take the pressure too much, and take good decisions in pressure moments - they should get the credit for winning," Kohli said.

But it looks like the skipper and his team have yet not learnt the lessons, be it the auction where the franchise's main focus is to spend big bucks on players without checking the kind of balance that player might provide to their squad for team selection in crucial matches.

In the last IPL auction, RCB bought Caribbean big-hitter Shimron Hetmyer by spending 4.2 Crores but the way he has started the tournament, it doesn't look like he is someone who the team needed this year. In back to back matches, Hetmyer played a stupid shots to throw his wicket away in a crucial situation. Against Mumbai Indians where RCB were chasing 188, Hetmyer looked in a hurry and didn't bother to build a partnership with the experienced de Villiers which cost his team the match. Kohli showed confidence in him against SRH and asked him to open innings in the 232 chase but the Caribbean flair didn't work in their favour.

Same goes for with Shivam Dube for whom RCB spent a massive 5 crores, but it seems like his talent is not good enough for the IPL. In crunch situations against CSK and MI Dube looked ordinary and lose his wicket in the ordinary fashion. 

Maybe with the returns of Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Coulter-Nile, RCB might find some balance in the squad. But in a tournament like IPL, you need to have a backup plan for a situation like this when your big overseas players are unavailable, but with a hat-trick of defeats, it doesn't look like Kohli's RCB have any.