Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) suffered their second loss of the season as they succumbed to a 7-wicket defeat against Kolkata at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday, March 29. Days after registering their first win of IPL 2024 against Punjab, the Faf du Plessis-led side suffered a 7-wicket loss at the hands of long-time rivals Kolkata. The result meant Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) moved down to sixth position in the IPL 2024 points table with two points from their first three matches.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) failed to defend 183 runs at home, with Kolkata getting to the target with 7 wickets and 19 balls remaining.
Royal Challengers bowlers poor performance as KKR thrash them for an easy win
Three of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s front-line bowlers, namely Mohammed Siraj, Alzarri Joseph and Yash Dayal, conceded at an economy of over 10. Siraj gave away 46 runs in three overs at an economy of 15.33, Joseph leaked 34 runs in two overs at an economy of 17, while Dayal bowled his three overs with an economy of 11.50 while leaking 45 runs in four overs. Australia all-rounder Cameron Green, who bowled one over and gave away seven runs, was the only RCB pacer to register an economy of under 10.
On the back of a brilliant a 49-ball 83 by superstar batter Virat Kohli, RCB posted 182 form 6 on the scoreboard in the first innings. However, a destructive opening stand between Phil Salt and Sunil Narine took the game away from the home side early in the second innings. Venkatesh Iyer then smashed his eighth IPL half-century as KKR registered their sixth straight win over RCB at their home stadium.
Following their loss at home, former England captain Michael Vaughan said RCB cannot win the Indian Premier League title with their current bowling attack.
Michael Vaughan furious on RCB’s bowling unit
Following the match in Bengaluru, Vaughan took to social media platform ‘X’ to say that Virat Kohli and co. cannot win an IPL title with their current bowling unit. Bengaluru failed to defend 183 runs at home, with Kolkata getting to the target with 7 wickets and 19 balls remaining.
“Impossible for @RCBTweets to win the IPL with this bowling attack,” Vaughan posted on ‘X’.
Virat Kohli was the top performer with the bat for RCB, remaining unbeaten on 83 off 59. In the bowling department, Vyshak Vijaykumar was the pick of the bowlers, conceding just 23 runs from four overs while bagging one wicket. However, the likes of Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, and Alzarri Joseph struggled to get going, finishing with economy rates of 15.30, 11.50, and 17.00, respectively.
Meanwhile, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan also criticized RCB’s bowling performance against KKR, saying they need to sort out their bowling.
However RCB skipper Faf Du Plessis was impressed the way how fast bowler Vijay Kumar Vyshak bowled despite other bowlers going for huge economy. He said in praise of the bowler that :
“Very good, he hasn’t had opportunities. We had a look in the first innings and we thought about bringing in Karn Sharma. But we felt someone who could bowl really good slower balls is probably the most difficult bowler to face on this pitch. Dre Russ probably bowled 80% of his balls cutters. We took some learnings from that and he was the best bowler of the evening.”
Following their loss against Kolkata, the Bengaluru-based franchise will turn their attention towards Lucknow Super Giants, with the two sides set to lock horns at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday, April 2