IPL 2018 | Responsibility can't be taken up only by de Villiers, asserts Virat Kohli

Royal Challengers Bangalore's playoffs hope ended after their loss to Rajasthan Royals on Saturday(May 19). The team desperately needed a win against a comparatively weak Rajasthan Royals - playing without the services of Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes - to stay alive in the league. However, as usual, middle-order irresponsibility shattered the Virat Kohli-led side's hopes to get past the total.

While chasing down a target of 165, only AB de Villiers displayed his class with a half-century, trying to handle the debacle, but the team eventually bowled out for only 134 on board. Interestingly, RCB were proportionally well placed at 75 for 1, but they lost their next seven wickets for 33, and by then, the result of the game was more or less over.

Looking at the stats, it is clearly evident that the RCB middle order looked off-colour as de Villiers and Kohli, the two pillars of the batting line-up, compiled 530 and 480 runs respectively. Mandeep Singh turned out to be the third highest run-getter with 252 runs and at an average of just over 25. Continuous chopping and changing in the top order and lower middle-order also didn’t help the cause. Virat Kohli, expressing his disappointment over the loss, stated that the team shouldn’t always look forward to AB for a win and the middle-order needs to be strengthened and sorting out the playing eleven is necessary too. 

"We wanted to strengthen the middle-order which hasn't happened, it hasn't been our strength and we need to do that going into the next few seasons. We need to be smarter with composing our team. The responsibility cannot be taken up only by AB all the time. He certainly scored runs, but others need to contribute around him," he said at the post-match presentation, as reported by Cricbuzz.

On the other hand, RCB performed well with the ball in the second half of the tournament. Umesh Yadav, in particular, impressed with 20 scalps. Meanwhile, Yuzvendra Chahal snared 12 wickets and Mohammed Siraj took 11 scalps. Looking at the bowling department Virat Kohli expressed his satisfaction and credited all of them who rose to the occasion. The RCB skipper also added that there are plenty of positives to take into next season.

"There were some new players who did well. Umesh bowled extremely well with the new ball, Chahal was great, Siraj and Moeen contributed too, so plenty of positives to take into the next season," Kohli observed.

Ajinkya Rahane, the opponent’s captain, looked extremely pleased about their bowling performances. On a track that assisted slow bowlers, Shreyas Gopal, the leg-spinner, bagged 4 scalps, while his Karnataka teammate, Krishnappa Gowtham, returned with figures of 1 for 6 from two overs. Ish Sodhi, the New Zealand leg-spinner, also put up a fine show, capturing 1 wicket inside his full quota.

"Though RCB had a very good batting line up, credit goes to our bowlers. Under pressure, the two leggies did really well. Getting wickets in the middle overs was never easy," Rahane said.

Despite climbing to the fourth spot on the league table, RR's fate would be decided based on matches played by Mumbai Indians (versus Delhi Daredevils) and Kings XI Punjab (versus Chennai Super Kings), on Sunday (May 20). Rahane pinpointed that the think-tank was focusing on only those factors that were within their control.

"This evening was very special. It was more about focussing on the things that we could control. Klaasen's innings was really good and Rahul Tripathi's innings at the top was magnificent. It is important to enjoy this win and stay calm," he concluded.