After 15 seasons of IPL, Royal Challengers Bangalore trophy cabinet continues to remain empty. The RCB camp must be hurting after another season of hope ended with their ship capsizing at the back-end of the tournament. Whenever the franchise seemed to find themselves in a quagmire, enough players stepped up to steer them to safer waters, with RCB progressing to the playoffs. In the Eliminator, Rajat Patidar and Harshal Patel turned out to be the two sure-footed bankers, powering the side to Qualifier 2 versus Rajasthan Royals. Unfortunately, they couldn't find enough players to match RR's arsenal of hit-the-deck pace bowlers and Jos Buttler's sparkling spread of run-scoring in the Qualifier 2 and had to reach for the exit door.
What worked for them?
Wanindu Hasaranga turned out to be the trump card for the franchise, especially in the middle overs. The wrist-spinner is currently the joint-highest wicket-taker of IPL 2022. Harshal also was a part of RCB's weaponry in the middle phase of the innings, alongside being the figurehead in the end overs. For most part of the tournament, Harshal employed cutters and bowled into the pitch, and ended up with 10 scalps in the death overs. More importantly, he cracked the code of restrictive bowling, encapsulated by his economy rate of under 9 runs per over in that phase.
Josh Hazlewood also performed his duties with distinction. Even though there was a marked difference in his stats - second and first innings. Meanwhile, among the batters, Dinesh Karthik engineered a few turnarounds in the slog overs, which is evidenced by his strike-rate of 183.33. Faf du Plessis topped the batting charts for RCB with 468 runs. One can look back at his performance and wonder whether his strike rate of 104.68 in the PowerPlay was a tad too low. But at the same time, some of the tracks did help the pacemen upfront.
What pulled them back?
RCB had the worst economy rate (8.46) and average (42.74) in the PowerPlay. Mohammed Siraj in particular came in for severe punishment during that phase with an economy rate of 10.22. Siraj also had the misfortune of going for plenty in the end overs, with his economy rate standing at 13.27. Barring a few innings of note, the bedrock of the franchise, Virat Kohli had a tough time. The former RCB skipper could aggregate only 343 runs at an average 22.73 and a strike rate 115.99. The last time he had a worse strike rate and average in the IPL were in 2012 (S/R/111.65) and 2009 (average/22.36).
Player of the season
Whenever Hasaranga came on to bowl, there was a sense of anticipation in the RCB camp and also their fans about a wicket falling. With his scrambled seam varieties - googly and leg-break - he consistently threatened both edges of the bat. His method is based on zooming it onto the stumps, which would bring different modes of dismissals into play. Incidentally, RCB's efficiency in the middle phase of the innings, where they finished with a whopping 47 scalps at 22.51, was mainly due to Hasaranga taking wickets at regular intervals - out of the 26 wickets he picked, 19 of them came in the middle overs. The RCB talisman even snared a hat-trick versus Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Highlights reel
On a humid night at Eden Gardens, Rajat Patidar touched rarefied zones versus Lucknow Super Giants and crunched a superlative unbeaten 112 of a mere 54 balls. Punches, pulls and cuts against LSG's hit the deck pacemen or lofts and drives against the spin duo of Krunal Pandya and Ravi Bishnoi, he played a wide range of shots. In fact, he reserved his best for LSG's main spinner Bishnoi by tonking two boundaries and two sixes in the 16th over. Patidar's IPL 2022 season wasn't just about a solitary hundred as he accumulated a healthy 333 runs at a strike rate of 152.75.
What next for the team?
RCB had their share of issues in the PowerPlay (bowling) and at the top of the order (batting). In that context, the RCB camp would hope for Siraj to find his mojo again. And same goes for Kohli. RCB might look at making an addition to their top order to give some buffer.
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