The Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered a six-wicket loss against the Gujarat Titans on Sunday, May 21 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. This was their seventh loss in the 2023 Indian Premier League in fourteen matches. They finished sixth on the points table, with fourteen points and an NRR of 0.135. Gujarat Titans opener Shubman Gill’s century knocked the Faf du Plessis-led team out of the 2023 Indian Premier League.
Batting first, the Royal Challengers Bangalore put on 197 runs on the board. Veteran batter Virat Kohli slammed his second century of the 2023 Indian Premier League. He scored 101 runs off 61 deliveries, with thirteen boundaries and a six. Meanwhile, none from the rest of the batting unit managed to go past the 30-run mark. In response, Shubman Gill smashed 104 runs off 52 deliveries, to power his team to victory in the thrilling encounter. Vijay Shankar also contributed valuable runs to the team’s cause. Royal Challengers Bangalore’s loss paved the way for the Mumbai Indians to become the fourth team to qualify for playoffs.
Let’s take a look at three reasons why the Royal Challengers Bangalore failed to make it to the playoffs of the 2023 Indian Premier League.
1. Failure of middle-order
The Royal Challengers Bangalore were very highly dependent on Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell in their batting order. These three topped the batting charts for the franchise, scoring the majority of the runs for the franchise this season.
However, the middle-order, consisting of Dinesh Karthik, Mahipal Lomror and Anuj Rawat failed to capitalise on the performance of the top three. Dinesh Karthik, who had a great season last year, averaged just 11.67 this season.
Meanwhile, Mahipal Lomror scored 135 runs in ten innings in the tournament. None of the Indian batters except Virat Kohli, managed vital contributions for the franchise. The over-reliance on the top three players proved to be fatal for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
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