Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are having their worst season in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history. Half the tournament is over and they are tottering at the bottom of the table with just one win in 7 games. With as many matches left, they must treat every fixture like a knockout to remain valid in the playoff race.
RCB are yet to find the right balance as a team. While their bowling has been the weakest link, the run-scoring has majorly depended on former captain Virat Kohli. He has been the standout performer for RCB this IPL season and is the current Orange Cap holder with 361 runs in 7 innings. His strike rate is 147.34, with the highest score being 113 not out.
Varun Aaron, Kohli’s former teammate at the RCB, believes that it’s high time India’s domestic players step up for Royal Challengers Bengaluru this IPL season and reduce the dependence on the senior batter.
“It’s just that RCB are not finding the rhythm, the domestic players are just not stepping up. If you have to be anywhere at the top of the table or the middle of the table at this point of the table, you have to have domestic players who are firing and you cannot always rely on Virat Kohli,” Aaron told Star Sports.
“The other guys have to step up and also all their money, is sitting in the dug-out. You can’t spend that much cash on players and not have them play,” he added.
Former Australia captain Aaron Finch, who was also part of the discussion, felt that RCB need an explosive middle-order batter who can complement Kohli.
“He’s (Kohli) scored a lot of runs everywhere. He’s a modern-day great. And I think the fact that he’s getting runs and RCB are still not making it is a positive sign in one degree. It’s that when Virat is playing well, that genuinely carries the rest of the players with him,” Finch said.
“They just need to find a partnership with him, they need to find an explosive middle-order player who is in form, Lomror has been in and out, so it’s got all the makings of an epic game,” he added.
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