NEW DELHI, Nov 30
Despite always being a star-studded side, winning an IPL title has always been a dream for Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, they have so far appeared in three IPL finals (2009, 2011 and 2016) but finished runners-up on every occasion.
South Africa legend AB de Villiers highlighted the persistent weaknesses of his former franchise that have emerged over the years, causing disruptions to their campaigns. “It has been a well-known fact that RCB’s bowling has been an area of weakness over the years. Yes, the batters also made a mess at times, but you need to play as a team. You need to gel together and understand each other,” De Villiers said on his YouTube channel.
“More often than not, there has been this feeling of making silly mistakes, not getting the discipline right, and not doing the basics well under pressure. We know how difficult it is to bowl at the Chinnaswamy Stadium,” he added. De Villiers also questioned RCB for not forming a core group of players like Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.
“RCB have failed to form a core group for the last 5 or 10 years. They have released several players every year without giving them chances.
That’s one area of concern. You have to trust young players like MI and CSK. Players over there become legends because they are not dropped or released after a handful of failures,” he said.
ABD expressed concern about the team’s strategy as they again released prominent players ahead of IPL 2024 including Josh Hazlewood, Wanindu Hasaranga and Harshal Patel.
“It is the area where I would be worried.
Obviously, there is Mohammed Siraj there, Reece Topley, and some experience there, but if you see the released players list, they let go of Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, and Josh Hazlewood.
Those three have won them a lot of games in the last couple of seasons, especially Hazlewood; he had just this way of controlling that bowling lineup,” he added.
