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IPL 2020: ‘Have said it from the beginning, don’t think RCB can be the champions’ - Michael Vaughan
IPL 2020: Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes RCB don’t have enough firepower to win three matches in a row and lift the IPL trophy from hereon for the first time in the tournament’s history.
Royal Challengers Bangalore qualified for the playoffs despite a six-wicket loss to Delhi Capitals in their last league match in IPL 2020 in Abu Dhabi on Monday. RCB ensured DC took more than 17.3 overs to chase down the 153-target to beat Kolkata Knight Riders on net run rate and ensure qualification.
The Virat Kohli-led side will now face either KKR or Sunrisers Hyderabad (depending on the result of the SRH vs MI match on Tuesday) in the eliminator.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan however believes RCB don’t have enough firepower to win three matches in a row and lift the IPL trophy from hereon for the first time in the tournament’s history.
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“Can the RCB team win it this year? I’ve said that from the beginning, I don’t think they’ve got enough collectively to win it,” Vaughan told Cricbuzz.
“Look anything is possible particularly in 2020, the world’s been turned upside down so who knows what’s gonna happen. Virat Kohli might bat left-handed and win them the game (in a gest) but it’s a tall order,” he added.
The former England captain argued that there aren’t enough players in the RCB side, who have now lost four matches in a row, to perform under the pressure of playoffs.
“I look at teams and individuals and see are there enough individuals in the RCB team full of confidence to play in the pressure that they would be under... I guess the one thing in RCB’s favour is that they’ve got no other options but to play hard and aggressive cricket,” Vaughan said.
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Devdutt Padikkal scored a fifty but RCB’s batting unit failed again to put up a good total on the board. Both Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers failed to provide the goods with the bat.
Commenting on Kohli’s form with the bat, Vaughan said the RCB captain should be winning more games for his side.
“2020 is the year that Virat Kohli became normal. He’s found that there are many other players who have gone through these kinds of struggles. It is not really a massive struggle for Kohli because the numbers are still are over 400 runs at a strike rate of 122 but he is better than that. He is a player that should be striking at over 140.
“He should be winning the RCB more games than he has done but as I said, he is a human being. Everyone can have periods where it doesn’t come quite as easy, as maybe as he had done in the last few years. Maybe things have not gone his way, lose a bit of confidence. The mindset’s not quite the way it was,” Vaughan said.
Kohli has scored 460 runs this year at an average of 46 in 14 matches but his strike rate has 122.1 is the lowest among the top five run-scorers of this IPL.
