नवीनतम
Bengaluru eye home improvement against Rajasthan
CHENNAI [Maha Media]: Struggling to find form in their own den, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will look to regain control of their IPL campaign at home when they meet a floundering Rajasthan Royals here on Thursday. RCB’s three defeats at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in as many matches offer one of the biggest paradoxes of this edition. An outfit that has steam-rolled opposition in all parts of the country has been left chasing shadows in their own backyard. The RCB batters have appeared strangely subdued and their bowlers seem to have forgotten the lengths to adopt here.
Central to that woeful run is the changed character of the 22- yard strip here which has offered some grip to the bowlers. The Bengaluru batters are yet to find the right tempo to tide over the slowness in the pitch, as they seem to have been caught in the dilemma of whether to step on the gas or not.
They have scored over 9-10 runs an over in other venues, but here the rate has dropped down to 7-8 runs an over. The inconsistent bounce is holding back the RCB batters, particularly after the Power Play segment and,hopefully, they will find therhythm against RR. The Bhuvneshwar Kumar-ledbowling attack’s story is not different either. Despite the deckoffering some assistance theyhave not been able to fully utilisethe conditions here, unable tofind the right spots.
RCB currently have 10 points tobe placed at third on the tablebut Punjab Kings and LucknowSuper Giants also have 10 points.Mumbai Indians are quietlysneaking up the ladder with eightpoints.
If they win against SunrisersHyderabad then MI too will have10 points and can displace RCB(4.7) from the third slot onaccount of better net run rate(4.8). Therefore, a favourableresult will help RCB to stay abovethe possible mid-table logjam offour teams with 10 points.
