Two successive defeats shouldn't discourage a star-studded team like Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), but in the grand scheme of things, the IPL things, these temporary setbacks can hurt them very hard.
Despite their 29-run defeat against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday, RCB are still fifth, a rung below the play-off bracket, with 10 points in the Indian Premier League 2022 table. They have five wins and four defeats.
But Faf du Plessis & Co have played more games, nine, than any other side in IPL 2022, and the teams in the bottom half of the table will soon start catching up with the top five. For instance, Punjab Kings have eight points from eight matches, while Delhi Capitals have six from seven matches.
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Things can go south pretty soon for RCB. And the signs are there. They were dismissed for just 68 in their nine-wicket defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad, then they failed to chase down a target of 145 runs against Rajasthan Royals. Their net run rate has also taken a hit after those two abysmal batting shows. It's now -0.572.
Also, another worrying factor is the collective failure of their top-order batters. Skipper Faf du Plessis admittedly said that they "needed someone in the top four to bat through and we have not done it. We have to try to change the batting order and see if that works."
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And they did try. Virat Kohli, who was dismissed for successive first-ball ducks, was promoted as an opener, but the batting great managed only nine runs. His highest score this season is 48 against Mumbai Indians, and after that, he scored 23 runs in five matches.
The team has more deadwood than match-winners. Occasional flashes of brilliance from the skipper and a rejuvenated Dinesh Karthik will not be enough in a tournament that is being clearly dominated by the batters. At least so far.
Now, the question is - how many can they afford to lose in the remaining five outings and still make the IPL 2022 play-offs. It may sound an inopportune question with so many games remaining in the season. But the fans have already sounded alarm bells.
Here are some reactions, mostly fun but hard-hitting ones can't be missed:
Here are Royal Challengers Bangalore's remaining fixtures in the league phase: vs Gujarat Titans on April 30; vs Chennai Super Kings on May 4; vs Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 8; vs Punjab Kings on May 13; vs Gujarat Titans again, on May 19.
Here's the updated IPL 2022 points table:
After failing to make the playoffs in three successive seasons (2017, 2018 and 2019), Royal Challengers Bangalore made the cut last two seasons, but ended up losing the Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad (2020) and Kolkata Knight Riders (2021) respectively.
