Challengers face uphill task against Royals

 The tall hoardings in the city have top Rajasthan Royals stars staring out aggressively. They have played that brand of cricket too in this Indian Premier League season. In complete contrast, Royal Challengers Bangalore have been hurtling from one defeat to another.

Such are the vagaries of Twenty20 cricket that even the team possessing one of the most explosive batting line-up could find themselves with bruised egos at the bottom of the table. Royal Challengers despite having the likes of Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB De Villiers, have struggled to get going. With three losses on the trot, they are now entering the den of Royals, who have built an aura of invincibility in this edition.

If winning home matches have become a tough task for RCB, Rajasthan seem to have developed a knack of making even their adopted venue their own. While RCB has been able to muster just one win in their four outings, Rajasthan have lost just one in their six, that too in the eliminator against Kings XI Punjab. Not surprisingly, Rajasthan can smile from atop the points table to RCB.

That it would be an arduous task for RCB to breach the Royals citadel needs no guesses. The Bangalore side is coming from a demoralising 27-run defeat at the hands of southern rivals Chennai Super Kings, a match in which their chase fell off the track once again.  The omission of Chris Gayle, albeit at his own behest, sparked a few questions but none of other batting stalwarts could rise to the occasion either. Captain Kohli did ignite the hopes with his half-century but the effort wasn’t enough. The aggression for which he is famed doesn’t seem to be rubbing on his team.

Kohli can’t mask the frailties of bowling attack. The return of Mitchell Starc did tidy up the things a bit against Super Kings but they still have a long way to go. However, it is the lack of form of Gayle that has been hurting the RCB most. Gayle hasn’t fired since his innings against Kolkata Knight Riders and against Mumbai he presented a miserable image of himself before sitting out of the game against CSK. The RCB need him to fire for the starts they are used to. Kohli, too, has looked a bit off-colour and needs to get into the zone to lead the revival. One wonders if De Villiers could be promoted up the order to give the batting the much needed thrust.

Rajasthan, with an imposing batting line-up, more so after the successful return of Shane Watson, would be eager to ravage a weak RCB attack. Ajinkya Rahane has been a revelation and his partnership with Watson smacks of ruthlessness. No one enjoys Indian bowlers and conditions more than Steve Smith and throw in the new sensation Deepak Hooda, the talented young Sanju Samson, or an ideal finisher in James Faulkner, you have an intimidating batting line-up.

They, too, however would like to look into their bowling. They leaked too many against Kings XI in the previous match but that for now can be dismissed as an aberration. Tim Southee, Chris Morris and veteran leg-spinner Pravin Tambe have done a good job thus far. Rajasthan would be eager to return to their winning waysm, while RCB would need some calm nerves to turn their fortunes around.