Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), on Monday (September 21), to commence their proceedings in the upcoming edition of Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Challengers has been a perennial underachiever in the league. Despite possessing a star-studded squad, with some of the biggest names in T20 cricket donning RCB’s jersey, the franchise has failed to deliver time and again.
In a quest to the elusive first championship title, RCB has acquired the services of veterans like Aaron Finch and Chris Morris to bolster their squad.
While Morris will definitely improve RCB’s long-standing issue of leaking too many runs in death overs, Finch’s inclusion will give them varieties in their batting line-up. The Aussie skipper is most likely to be paired with Parthiv Patel to open the innings.
Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, however, feels otherwise. Gavaskar recently wrote that he would love to see Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers playing as openers in the UAE.
“On pitches that will get slower, it may be a good idea to have both the champion batsmen[ Kohli and de Villiers] open the batting while the ball is hard and new and will come on to the bat nicely than when the spinners are operating. Leggie Yuzvendra Chahal could be a match-winner for RCB on those pitches,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
‘Why a team like RCB hasn’t won the title as yet is a puzzle’: Gavaskar
‘Little Master’ further lamented that RCB’s failure to win the IPL trophy in twelve attempts is beyond his comprehension. He also remarked that over-reliance on big names like Kohli and De Villiers might be one of the reasons.
“Why a team like Royal Challengers Bangalore hasn’t won the title as yet is a puzzle. Any team that has Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers should never be short of runs and maybe that’s also a problem, for when these two failed, as humans sometimes do, then the others haven’t put their hands up.”
Gavaskar pinned his hopes on the new coaching setup to turnaround things for RCB. Simon Katich has been roped in as a new head coach while Mike Hesson is the club’s Director of Cricket.
“They have a new coach and will be hoping that this will be their year,” concluded Gavaskar.