The 13th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) has got off to a an exemplary start for Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore who hunt for their maiden IPL trophy this season. Despite having the best of teams and being led by one of the fiercest skipper, the RCB franchise has failed to reap success as much they had hoped to.
However, in IPL 2020 the tale has been quite the opposite with the team displaying a rejuvenated spirit in their efforts to bring the maiden IPL trophy home.
Here are 5 reasons why RCB can win their first-ever IPL trophy.
IPL 2020: RCB’s best start in IPL history
RCB got their best start to the season since IPL 2013, with three wins in four games. They currently occupy the 3rd spot with 5 win from 7 matches and 10 points on the board. Playing out of India might have been challenging, but it has certainly worked out for the Royal Challengers Bangalore so far.
Skipper Virat Kohli is looking good once again and coupled with De Villiers‘ fireworks that he has displayed of late, RCB is currently the team to beat. The Indian core has also combined extrememely well, especially the spin combination of Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal. While Sundar has been a master in stopping the flow of runs, Chahal has been extremely clinical with his breakthroughs.
IPL 2020: Spin duo Chahal-Sundar weave their web
Amidst all the criticism levied against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the past editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the side’s bowling unit has had to bear the brunt of quite a few scathing remarks.
Yet, this season’s been quite different, for there’s been a turnaround in fortunes. For the first time in many years, there’s been very little to complain about, and the change in fortunes has been orchestrated by the spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal-Washington Sundar.
Washington Sundar’s impact in the powerplay overs has been gamechanging. What’s most impressive about Sundar’s show so far is that most of his success – if not all of it – has come from within the powerplay stages. Notably, RCB skipper Kohli did not throw the ball to Sundar in the powerplay during the team’s first two games against SRH and KXIP, but when he did turn to the offie against MI, there was no looking back.
Chahal has been an integral cog in turning RCB’s fortunes around. On the other hand, Chahal had splendid start to this season, as he has picked up 5 wickets in 3 games, including a match-winning performance against the Sunrisers Hyderabad where he finished with figures of 3/18 in his 4 overs. The team has certainly benefitted from his form as they have won two out of three matches and will be looking to carry this momentum going forward in their quest for a maiden IPL crown.
Chahal is the leading wicket-taker for RCB having picked up 105 wickets in 86 matches at an impressive average of 22.62 for the franchise. An important member of the core group in the RCB camp now, he is trying to pass on his experience by mentoring youngsters like Shabhaz Ahmed and Washington Sundar, through the RCB mentorship programme.
IPL 2020: Virat Kohli’s resurgence a blessing for RCB
Although he scored a fifty against Rajasthan Royals last weekend, Saturday’s innings against Chennai Super Kings is when the real Virat Kohli showed up. The Royal Challengers Bangalore wasn’t tied down and played his shots, top-scoring with an unbeaten 90 that paved the way for RCB’s 37-run win against CSK. It was a typical Kohli-esque knock that saw him run fiercely between the wickets and play the big shots. From 93/4, if RCB got to 169, it was primarily due to Kohli’s innings and his partnership of 76 runs with Shivam Dube.
After scores of 14, 1 and 3 in the first three games, Kohli struck a fifty against RR, followed by 43 against Delhi Capitals. And on Saturday, the RCB skipper returned to his elements. Explaining the reason behind his struggle in the first three matches, Kohli revealed that he felt he was putting too much pressure on himself and that is what stood in his way of him getting a good score.
IPL 2020: In form De Villiers pose serious threat
AB de Villiers winded the clock back at the Indian Premier League 2020, with his superb knock at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday. Playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, ABD smashed unbeaten 73 runs off just 33 balls against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the match no. 28 of the tournament.
de Villiers who came to bat at no.4 completed his fifty in just 23 balls and smashed 5 fours and 6 sixes during his stay in the middle. He ended the innings with a whopping strike rate of 221.21.
Also, the South African stitched a 100-run partnership with RCB skipper and the man in form Virat Kohli (33*) for the third wicket. Interestingly, the partnership came in just 7.4 overs at 13.04 runs per over and in the process the duo completed 3,000 runs together in IPL, which is highest by any pair.
IPL 2020: Proven Death over specialists deliver the goods
It’s quite disturbing to see the Bold Army struggling to find a commander for their bowling unit in every season. Especially their poor death bowling skills have paved the way for some humiliating defeats in the last couple of years.
One can easily understand their death overs fiasco by looking at their record in the 2019 IPL where they conceded runs at an economy rate of 11.23. Still, it can be termed as an improvement as that number stood 11.87 at the end of IPL 2018.
The franchise however did well to buy the right personnel to put an end to their long-standing problems. They have added the likes of Chris Morris and Kane Richardson to the squad who have proven track record in the T20 tournaments around the globe. Both the bowlers have the necessary skill set to stop the run-flow in the final phase of the innings. Besides the addition of Isuru Udana, who has been effective with his slow-ball variations in death overs has paid off well for RCB.
