“History tells you that if you tend to make your home the fortress, you normally tend to do well,” Royal Challengers Bangalore’s batting mainstay AB de Villiers had stated last week. However, RCB’s performance at home this year is a reflection of a season marked by stark ironies and frustration.
After a decent start of two straight wins at the Chinnaswamy, Virat Kohli’s men have suffered three straight defeats here. Nothing seems to be working for the three-time finalists and the road ahead appears extremely difficult for them. After Tuesday’s home game against Mumbai Indians, RCB will be on the road, playing as many as four away matches.
Batsman Brendon McCullum was quick to admit that his side is not in an ideal situation. “We’re going to be on the road soon and it will be nice to get a win on the road in a couple of days’ time. When we are on the road, we have got to do it tough but that’s our own fault. We haven’t had the results at the start of the tournament. It’s tough when you lose so many games. But I firmly believe in my group of guys and we hope we do well soon,” said the Kiwi opener after RCB were crushed by Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets on Sunday.
Ahead of the tie against Kolkata, RCB had just two wins from six matches. The room for errors was minor for the Challengers but they produced a sloppy display on the field to remain in a situation of despair.
The hosts dropped two catches, including the crucial one of Chris Lynn, while the ground fielding left a lot to be desired.
“We had our chances. We dropped catches, and we weren’t at our best in the field. I thought we were good with the bat, good with the ball but in the field, we were just a bit disappointing, and unfortunately, you can’t be like that in this competition.
To be honest, we thought 175 was a pretty good score. We saw how much turn was out there. There was a bit of variable bounce as well. I don’t want to be too harsh on our bowlers. We just didn’t grab our chances,” he explained.
