Cameron Green with Virat Kohli© BCCI/Sportzpics
With just one win in eight matches, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are on the brink of early elimination from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Just one more defeat in the remainder of the campaign could prove to be the final nail in the coffin for the Faf du Plessis-led side. But, it’s not just this season that RCB have struggled to fire, their story has been the same for the most part of IPL history. Aaron Finch, a former Australia captain who played for RCB in the past, explained the core reasons behind the franchise’s consistently poor performances in the T20 league. (IPL 2024 Points Table)
In a show on Star Sports, Finch pinpointed the auction strategy as one of the biggest reasons behind the Bengaluru side’s underwhelming show in the IPL. Finch highlighted how the RCB management tends to spend heavy on batters while leaving little budget to sing a top bowler, especially spinner.
“I think there have been a couple of reasons, hasn’t gone well, and I think it does start off with the auction table when you put so much emphasis on your batting group and doesn’t leave a huge amount of room for your bowling. The lack of world-class spinner I guess it’s something and proven in the game against KKR, Sunil Narine is a world-class operator and he’s somebody who gets the job done day in day out. It’s just that lack of a spinner there to be relied on consistently,” Aaron Finch said.
Finch also questioned the team management’s decision to play Cameron Green in the middle despite knowing that it isn’t the Australian all-rounder’s best position.
“I think they have got some issues with playing players out of position at times, I mean Cameron Green to trade for him for such a big price, for such a big percentage of a salary cap, to then bat him in the middle-order where is not as comfortable as batting at the top is is a real strange move. You’re asking a guy to do a job which he is not comfortable with from the start so you’re not setting him up for the ultimate success in my opinion,” Finch asserted.
Languishing at the bottom of the 10-team points table, RCB need a miracle from here to enter the playoffs.
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