Royal Challengers
On the road adjoining the Chinnaswamy Stadium, billboards have cropped up and the rhetoric is cricket-laced as evident in lines like ‘24/7 is not a batting collapse, it is a commitment’.
The private hospital that has put up these advertisements has dipped into cricketing analogies while dwelling upon its round-the- clock services as the Indian Premier League is around the corner and Royal Challengers Bangalore is set for another tilt.
The fans, meanwhile, are eager that RCB shrugs aside its indifferent run in the last three editions, when the team did not qualify for the play-offs. Their hunger has been further whetted by the Karnataka squad that has won almost all domestic cricket titles over two seasons and last year’s I-League champion – Bengaluru Football Club.
As usual, RCB steps into the IPL, flexing its batting muscle while hoping that its bowling arm will provide the ideal support. In skipper Virat Kohli, A.B. de Villiers and Chris Gayle, RCB has an enviable batting troika. Gayle has his niggles but he will take pain-killer injections and stride out ominously.
Among others, Dinesh Karthik’s inclusion will augment the batting and he could also don the wicketkeeping gloves and offer respite to de Villiers. Darren Sammy and South African David Wiese are the all-round options and there are men ranging from the experienced S. Badrinath to fresh-talent Shishir Bhavane, waiting in the wings. The last-named is the lone Karnataka player in the outfit.
The bowling that was supposed to lean on World Cup Player-of-the-Tournament Mitchell Starc, suffered a blow as the left-arm speedster is nursing a knee injury and will miss the action for two to three weeks. Another import – New Zealand’s Adam Milne – is expected to get fit and the team management has requested the seamer to join the squad. Sean Abbott too bolsters the pace pack and the Indian angle is provided by Varun Aaron and Ashoke Dinda. Overall the attack can take its cues from bowling coach Allan Donald and assistant coach Bharat Arun.
More importantly coach Daniel Vettori, Donald, Arun, Kohli and de Villiers are coming in from an emotionally draining World Cup.
Vettori insisted that they have the experience to snap out of it and that all bases were covered. The fans, though, will wait for the first game against Kolkata Knight Riders at Kolkata on April 11 before forming their inferences.
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Track record
Season 1: Group Stage
Season 2: Runner-up
Season 3: Playoffs
Season 4: Runner-up
Season 5: Group Stage
Season 6: Group Stage
Season 7: Group Stage
Overall record: Played 108, won 52, lost 54, tied and lost 1, no-result 1.
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Strength: With Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and A.B. de Villiers in its ranks, RCB intends to propel ahead with its regular template of domineering batting.
Weakness: Left-arm speedster Mitchell Starc’s absence in the initial phase could hurt, as will the reputation of a team that has wilted in the knockout stages.
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Star watch
Chris Gayle: The big-built Jamaican has often injected huge dollops of adrenaline right at the beginning for RCB. With 2245 runs at a strike-rate of 157.54, the West Indian opener has played a massive role in RCB casting a huge psychological shadow on opponents but the southpaw needs to also click if and when the team qualifies for the play-offs.
A.B. de Villiers: None can set a restrictive field when A.B. de Villiers is in full flow. It is a lesson his South African team-mate
Dale Steyn learnt it the hard way in two IPL skirmishes as the world’s finest fast-bowler was clouted all over the park. If Gayle is about the bludgeoning blow, de Villiers is the more rounded package. Even the fine-leg and third-man boundary gets a fair share of dents when de Villiers takes flight, such is his versatility.
