IPL 2025: Home truth hurts RCB, again
RCB is yet to win at home this IPL, struggling with tactics and shot selection, while Punjab Kings adapt better to the pitch and secure victories.
Kolkata: Royal Challengers Bengaluru is the only team yet to win at home this IPL. For a team packed with power hitters customised to clear one of the shortest boundaries in the IPL, this has to be a hard truth to swallow. Losing the toss in all three games was a damning factor at a ground where defending has historically been challenging. Not everything can be pinned down to the rub of the green though.
Tactically, RCB have been found wanting as well. From shot selection to the curious case of leaving out Devdutt Paddikkal, RCB were shortchanged on many counts. And more stinging must have been the Chinnaswamy specific form some of the former players have displayed. Mohammad Siraj in the Gujarat Titans game, KL Rahul in the loss to Delhi Capitals, Yuzvendra Chahal on Friday—the list keeps getting long.
The matchup against Chahal went along predictable lines. He knows hitting straight is easier at Bengaluru so he tested batters by sticking to the middle and leg stump channel, luring them with tossed up deliveries. Jitesh Sharma couldn’t resist the temptation, went for a slog sweep and was duly caught at deep backward square-leg. A four-run over with a wicket was the perfect opening statement at a venue where Chahal had grown to be India’s best wrist spinner. But there was more.
This time, it was Rajat Patidar, who backs himself to clear the boundaries by staying on his backfoot. Chahal did exactly that, drawing Patidar into a loft but with a bit of dip and a lot of turn. Long-off didn’t have to sweat for that catch.
You would imagine RCB must have been prepared for such a backlash from a spinner who they had considered their own not too long ago. But not only was the intent wrong, the application too was way off.
It didn’t help that RCB were already at their wit’s end by then, falling to the cross-batted shot trap. Phil Salt was caught trying to swing the ball to the leg side, Virat Kohli couldn’t pull long enough, Liam Livingstone was holed out and Krunal Pandya got out to the pull.
“It’s just we’ve probably been a bit slow on the learnings from the first two games and didn’t put that into practice as well as we could have,” Josh Hazlewood, who tried to keep RCB in the game for a while with 3/14, said later.
Patidar agreed that moping about the home surface isn’t helping anymore. “Initially it was sticking and two paced, but we could have done far better as a batting unit,” he said after the match. “Partnerships are important, we have lost wickets in quick intervals and that’s a big lesson for us. The wicket wasn’t that bad, it was under covers for a long time, it helped their bowlers, credit goes to them.”
For Punjab Kings to read the pitch and adapt better than RCB is no doubt creditable. But more promising is how in back-to-back matches now their bowling has defended a paltry score and restricted a powerful batting side at one of the smallest venues in India.
“To be honest, we didn’t know how the wicket was going to play and I personally feel the bowlers adapted according to it,” said Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer later. “When I had a chat with Arshdeep, he said, the hard length balls were very difficult to hit on this wicket because I didn’t see a single six off a fast bowler hit down the ground.”
To work on that and dismantle RCB’s top order at their home within a few overs points to a fortitude that can make champions.
