It was another trophyless season for RCB, who while having some of the best players world cricket has to offer, failed to make the best of it. A batting line up consisting of Kohli, AB de Villiers and Maxwell, along with Chahal and youngster like Hashal Patel to bowl out the opponents certainly made them one of the strongest teams on paper. The question on why they finished only fourth is what this post ponders.

Underwhelming UAE Leg

RCB certainly were in red hot form during the first half of the IPL and the break was a curse for them. One of the most noticeable difference for RCB was the lack of wickets in the Powerplay overs. During the India Leg, Jamieson played a crucial role in picking up early wickets, thus putting the opposition under pressure. This was noticeably missing in the second half of the IPL with Jamieson opting out.

Furthermore, the AB de Villiers, one of the pillars in RCB’s batting lineup struggled to get going in the second half. While on occasions other players like Bharat stepped up, this wasn’t always the case, thus weakening the batting line up.

Virat Kohli: The Batsman

It is impossible to discuss the performance of RCB without discussing their skipper, Kohli’s performance. This becomes even more important given the World T20 approaching. Considering the IPL data, we can notice a trend in Kohli’s strike rate while facing particular kinds of bowlers. We can see a significant difference between the strike rates against left and right arm bowlers. Moreover, the strike rate takes a noticeable hit while facing spinners.

Chahal’s Revival

Yuzvendra Chahal overtime has made a great name for himself as one of the top leg spinners India has to offer. However it won’t be a lie to say that his performace in the first half of the IPL was way below expectations. He picked up only 5 wickets in the first seven matches at an economy rate of 8.08, leading to him being dropped from India’s T20 World Cup Squad.

However he certainly managed to turn things around in the second half, picking up 12 wickets at an economy of 6.23. This even started a conversation on whether or not he should replace Rahul Chahar in the Indian Squad.

Harshal Patel’s Emergence

One of the breakout star for RCB this season was Harshal Patel, who went on to claim the purple cap in a record-breaking fashion. While a wicket taker across both legs, he was another bowler who benefitted from the UAE condition as his economy went drastically down. We can notice that, while managing to take wickets in the India Leg, he was an expensive bowler compared to the team average. This certainly changed in the second half as his economy fell considerably, even below the team average for UAE leg.

Conclusion

There were certainly some standout performers for RCB this season like Maxwell and Harshal Patel, with Chahal signing in the second half, however this wasn’t enough for them to clinch the title. Jamieson’s unavailablility in the second half and ABD’s form certainly were factors that helf the team back. With Kohli announcing that he won’t be captaining the team next season onwards, it certainly would count as another disappointing season for them.

Notes

• The data has been collected from kaggle and are approximated.
• Plotly has been used to generate the plots used in this blogpost.
• Play off matches have been ignored to have a fair comparison amongst teams, with equal matches played.