Luck and good performance in the initial matches - Virat Kohli's team has a playoff ticket even after losing to Delhi Capitals by Royal Challengers Bangalore, these are two important reasons.
Apart from luck and early performances, another reason is that three teams from the last rung have lost eight matches against the Bangalore team, which lost seven out of 14 matches. That is, lost a match more than Bangalore. Kolkata Knight Riders present at number four have the same point as Bangalore but the Bangalore team is slightly up in the run rate.
With luck
It was also fortunate that Bangalore's last league match was a day after Kolkata's last league match. Bangalore captain Virat Kohli knew that if he did not let Delhi Capitals win before 17.3 overs, his run rate would be better than Kolkata and he would be confirmed in the play-offs.
But, if the team, which is expressing its intention to win the IPL title, arrives in the play-offs by resorting to such multiplication-math, it will be considered more than luck of the players. If Kolkata had a match later in the league round, then perhaps they too could have had such a chance to improve the run rate.
Battered on the field
Bangalore did not have the winning rhythm before the last league match, but their pan was considered heavy. Veterans like Sunil Gavaskar were calling Bangalore a favorite and this was also the reason. Delhi's team had lost four matches in a row and their players' confidence was seen in the abyss.
But, in the match against Bangalore, the Delhi team came out with a better strategy and did not let Virat Kohli's team take advantage of their flaws.
It can also be said that Bangalore did not try to hurt Delhi's weak links. Virat Kohli and his teammates, who claimed to show 'aggressive play' before the last league match, were seen 'on the ground'.
Why is Virat's team beating?
In such a situation, everyone wants to know what has happened to this team. Is this the team that won seven of the first 10 matches? Is this the team that did the job of defeating the Mumbai Indians, ranked first in the point table, in the Super Over? Is this the team whose two batsmen are counted among the five batsmen to have scored the most runs in IPL-13?
Of course, the team is the same, but the scale of his game has come down considerably. Now the question is, what is the reason for this happening? The answer is that there are many reasons for this.
Weak planning
The first and most important reason is the strategic flaw. That is, this team is beating on the planning front. Bangalore won the last match about two weeks ago on 21 October. Then he defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets.
Since then, Virat Kohli's team has lost four matches in a row. The problem is that the pattern of defeat of the four matches has been the same. Bangalore batted first in all four matches and were defeated by the playing team later.
Among these four teams, there was no team other than Mumbai which was considered better than Bangalore before the match. After being beaten by the Chennai Super Kings defeat and out of the playoff race, Bangalore prevailed.
Hyderabad and Delhi also managed to win by being better than Bangalore on the strategy front. A similar mistake is done by the team that does not have a plan to respond to the counter-attack of the opponent.
It is right that the batting team gets the benefit of the dew that falls on the grounds of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah, but other teams have brought it.
Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday proved the dew factor against Rajasthan Royals to be meaningless. However, Bangalore's team failed to do so in not one or two but four matches.
Breathless batting
Another major reason for Bangalore being battered is the batsmen's failure.
Bangalore's batsmen are scoring. The names of Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli are among the five most successful batsmen of the tournament but their runs are not useful for the team.
This is because of the strike rate. Padikkal and Kohli have the lowest strike rates among the top five batsmen.
Bangalore batsmen score runs but at such a slow pace that there is hardly any pressure on the opposing team.
In Monday's match against Delhi, Bangalore's batsmen scored just 60 runs in the first ten overs. While both Virat Kohli and Padikkal were present at the crease. At the same time, Delhi scored 81 runs in 10 overs.
Bangalore's team relies on AB de Villiers to score fast runs in the last over. In the matches in which de Villiers has bat, the team's victory has been confirmed, but for the last four matches, de Villiers has not lived up to the expectation.
In these four matches, Padikkal has scored two and Virat Kohli has scored a half-century. Padikkal certainly scored fast against Mumbai but Virat Kohli's half-century against him and Chennai against Delhi was so slow that the team did not get the benefit.
How much edge in bowling?
On the bowling front, the team looks a little better but not so much that the remaining flaws can be replenished. Here the flaw of the strategy is visible.
If we talk about the match against Delhi, then problems emerge. Before the match against Bangalore and Delhi, everyone knew that the Delhi batsmen are struggling with form.
Shikhar Dhawan was failing for three matches. Prithvi Shaw and Ajinkya Rahane's bat was constantly silent and Delhi captain Shreyas Iyer was also struggling to score runs.
To win over Delhi, it was necessary to take wickets in the beginning. Prithvi Shaw failed but Bangalore bowlers Dhawan and Rahane could not overcome the weakness and the match slipped out of hand.
After the match, captain Kohli also admitted, "Maybe we will have to bowl better in the powerplay".
Despite suffering four defeats, the only good thing in favor of Bangalore is that captain Virat Kohli still has not given up hope of winning the IPL Trophy.
Kohli says, "Now we have to play two matches to reach the final."
However, Kohli and his team have to remember that there will be an opportunity to play the second match when they recognize the mistakes made from the four matches, improve on both strategy and game fronts.
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