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Follow UsInexplicably benching Vyshak after his KKR showing
After warming the bench for Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s first two games of the season, local hero Vyshak Vijaykumar made his maiden appearance of the season in the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) clash at the Chinnaswamy stadium on March 29.
RCB were hammered in that contest, with KKR chasing 183 inside 17 overs, but Vyshak had a performance to remember as he returned figures of 1/23 off 4 overs, masterfully utilizing his variations. Vyshak was, by some distance, the best RCB bowler on the night.
That performance should have ideally sealed the 27-year-old’s spot in the XI, but instead, the right-armer was inexplicably left out of RCB’s next two clashes, including the Lucknow Super Giants clash that was played at the Chinnaswamy.
Such a move would have been understandable had RCB had a stacked pace bowling unit that was delivering, but post the KKR clash, every RCB speedster was going at over 8.8 runs per over, with the two lead seamers, Mohammed Siraj and Alzarri Joseph, going at over 10 RPO.
RCB, in fact, bowled first in the LSG clash yet Vyshak was not able to find a place in the XI, with the side opting to go with just three specialist seamers (Siraj, Topley, Dayal), not using the bowling impact player.
Under-utilizing Mahipal Lomror & not cashing in on his red-hot form
Among all batters who have faced 20+ balls so far in IPL 2024, Mahipal Lomror’s strike rate of 238.09 is the best. This season, the left-hander has hit a boundary every 2.3 balls he’s faced. And he played a match-winning cameo in the only game RCB won in their first five matches, against Punjab Kings at the Chinnaswamy.
Yet, despite striking the ball as cleanly as anyone in this competition, and despite positively impacting games with the bat, Lomror has made just two appearances all season.
Lomror’s first appearance of the season came against PBKS, where, with RCB needing 47 off the final 4 overs, the left-hander blazed an unbeaten 17 off 8 balls to drive his side home. However, like Vyshak, Lomror too was benched for the side’s next clash, with RCB preferring Anuj Rawat over the in-form 24-year-old.
Unlike Vyshak, Lomror got a second chance, in the LSG clash, and he impressed there too, smashing a stunning 13-ball 33 to briefly keep RCB single-handedly alive in the contest. This performance should at least have sealed the left-hander’s spot in the XI, but he was puzzlingly left out of the Rajasthan Royals clash, with RCB instead handing a debut to the inexperienced Saurav Chauhan.
For the longest time, RCB have been crying out for a domestic batter to step up. Lomror has done just that this season, yet the management, for reasons only they know, have refused to give the 24-year-old a deserved, extended run in the side.
Not giving Cameron Green a defined role
RCB trading Cameron Green for INR 17 crore was a debatable move, but the deal would have proven to be a good one had the franchise done everything in their power to get the best out of the talented all-rounder.
And the template to get the best out of Green the batter was right there in front of their eyes. Mumbai Indians showed it last season: bat Green at No.3 and give him the license.
But five games into the season, Green has batted more times at No.5 (3) than he has at No.3 (2). He’s been moved up and down the order, not given a clear role, and has at times even been asked to play the role of a finisher, which he is not.
Green, the T20 batter, is someone who is good at utilizing the powerplay, starting quickly and then building his innings from there. Yet the 24-year-old has faced more than five balls in the powerplay (in an innings) only once this season — that was against KKR, and there he struck at 200.00 in the 1-6 phase, scoring 24 off the 12 balls he faced.
Five games into their season, it does seem like RCB simply do not know how to use Green. Nothing underlines this more than them sending the right-hander in at No.5 against RR, in the 18th over, ahead of a specialist finisher like Dinesh Karthik. Clearly not an organic finisher by nature, Green ended up scoring just five runs off the six balls he faced.
If you’re going to spend 17 crore on an individual, you ideally have to do everything in your power to make him click. RCB, though, have so far been setting Green up for failure.
Being ultra-conservative with the bat (aiming for scores that are barely par)
Two weeks ago, in the clash against KKR, RCB posted just 182 batting first despite getting off to a flyer (61/1 at the end of the powerplay). The justification for the same was that Virat Kohli, who scored 83* off 59 balls, had to ‘bat through’ because ‘wickets were tumbling at the other end’.
However, this was not true. With 22 balls left in the innings, RCB had lost just three wickets. It’s just that there was an inherent conservatism about their approach that stopped them from maximizing the team total. As it turned out, KKR sleep-walked through the chase, getting home with 19 balls to spare.
A few days ago, in RCB’s clash against RR, Kohli said at the halfway point that he took a conscious decision to ‘play the conditions’ and claimed that he felt that 183 was par. This was the same night in which Kohli scored the joint-slowest IPL hundred ever, and RCB posted only 183 despite losing just three wickets in total.
Once again, the Reds ended up losing the contest comfortably as RR got home with six wickets and five balls to spare.
When it comes to T20 cricket in 2024, teams that bat first have no choice but to get as many runs as they possibly can. Because you never know what will be enough. Two weeks ago, SRH scored 277 and that was nearly not enough.
For some reason, however, RCB’s fear of collapsing has trumped their desire to maximize the team score.
In sharp contrast, on April 9 (Tuesday), SRH ended up posting 182 on the board despite being 64/4 at one stage, in the 10th over. This was because both Nitish Reddy (64 off 37 balls) and Abdul Samad (25 off 12 balls) went for it, knowing very well that merely ‘posting a score’ would not cut it.
Their approach ended up paying dividends as Sunrisers won an extremely close contest by two runs.
Five games into the season, this conservatism has done more harm than good for RCB. With the season on the line, they *have* to modify their approach going forward if they are to turn their season around.
Not utilizing either of their scorching hot overseas options (Jacks & Ferguson)
It was always going to be impossible for RCB to fit both Will Jacks and Lockie Ferguson in the starting XI, but there was certainly scope to pick at least one of the two red-hot overseas stars.
Heading into IPL 2024, Ferguson was bowling as well as he ever has, having taken 15 wickets in eight games in 2024 at a ridiculous economy of 5.70. He certainly merited a spot ahead of both Alzarri Joseph and Reece Topley. Yet 23 games into the IPL, Ferguson is yet to make a single appearance despite RCB’s bowling getting tonked game after game.
Jacks, meanwhile, has arguably been *the hottest* batter in the T20 circuit in the past 10 months or so. With all of Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell and Green struggling immeasurably, there was an avenue for RCB to pick Jacks and go in with an all-Indian seam attack. Yet, like Ferguson, Jacks, too is yet to make his RCB debut; he’s been rotting on the bench.
In hindsight, it’s certainly staggering that Ferguson and Jacks have not gotten a single game between them despite RCB playing five games.
