Follow UsRoyal Challengers Bengaluru’s head coach Andy Flower has admitted that his team’s top-five batters haven’t performed the way they would have wanted in the Indian Premier League 2024.
Virat Kohli has two fifties in three innings but his strike rate has been a problem. But you also can’t blame him, considering none of Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, Rajat Patidar and Cameron Green have a 50-plus score in this tournament.
All of them have an average of well below 20, so it’s not surprising that RCB have won only one of their three games so far.
“Our top five batsmen are yet to fire. There are big scores on offer at Chinnaswamy. So, once our big batsmen start scoring runs, I think we’ll see some of those big scores. I have absolutely no doubt about that,” said Flower ahead of the game against LSG on April 2 (Tuesday).
Talking about the surface at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Flower said: “To be honest, I expect the pitch to be a reasonable pitch tomorrow night. We scored 184 here a couple of nights ago and that was chased down in 17 overs.
“So, there are big scores on offer and particularly the venue being a little smaller. The ball travels here on the field too.”
The Chinnaswamy hasn’t really been a happy hunting ground for RCB, unlike Chepauk for Chennai Super Kings and Wankhede for Mumbai Indians.
“What we really need to do is to work out when we can attack and when we need to defend. This is a difficult place to defend no doubt, especially if the dew comes.
“But we don’t want the toss to be a huge factor. We want to be in control of all our skills and our tactics. We’ve got to get that right.”