Royal Challengers Bengaluru suffered their fifth consecutive loss in the Indian Premier League 2024 as their valiant effort fell short of the record IPL total put up by Sunrisers Hyderabad in match 30 on Monday, April 15. Despite scoring 262, the Bengaluru-based franchised ended 25 runs short of the 287-run total at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The hopes of playoffs qualification are even thin now as they have just one victory in seven outings and languish at the bottom of the points table with two points. RCB need a magical turnaround if they have to script a comeback to stand a chance for the playoffs. Meanwhile, former Indian cricketers Virender Sehwag and Manoj Tiwary shed light on the loopholes of the franchise.
Sehwag said that RCB don't have an Indian holding a post in the team management who could have given them a 'comfort level'. "If you have 12-15 Indian players, just 10 overseas and your entire staff is made of foreigners, that's an issue. Only a few of them are international players, rest are all Indians and half of them don't even understand English. How will you motivate them? Who spends time with them? Who talks to them? I can't see a single Indian staff member. At least there should be someone who the players can confide in," Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
"Players need a comfort level which they are not getting presently. Players go blank in front of Captain Faf du Plessis because if he asks something, they will have to answer. If the leader is Indian, you can share what's going through your mind. But if you do that to an overseas player, you may be left out of the Playing XI in the next game. RCB need at least 2-3 Indian support staff," he added.
Andy Flower is RCB's head coach, while Adam Griffith is the bowling coach of the franchise. They have Sridharan Sriram (batting and spin bowling coach) and Malolan Rangarajan (Head of scouting and fielding coach) in their support staff but the captain, head coach and bowling coaches are foreigners.
Meanwhile, Tiwary delved deep into analysing the problems of RCB in the ongoing season. "I know where the problem is. From the auction table to the management. All the good players of this franchise leave to go and play for other teams. One of them is the leading wicket-taker this season [Yuzvendra Chahal]. You let them go. You don't persist with Virat Kohli's captaincy. He led them to the 2016 final," Tiwary said.
Notably, RCB went without Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green Mohammed Siraj and Alzarri Joseph for their clash against SRH who combined for a hefty purse being left out. "Then today, the 4 costliest players of the franchise whose collective budget is more than Rs 40 crore, are all benched. Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph. Siraj was rested. So when you're spending so much money and then benching these players, you know where the problem lies," the Bengal batter said.
"Batting is not a problem. It was always bowling. They don't have a specialist spinner. You're making Will Jacks open the bowling. Sometimes Mahipal Lomror and even some of the on-field captaincy calls are terrible. Everything is wrong from every corner. They need to regroup entirely and devise a long-term plan," he added.
