Cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has pointed out that the success of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) heavily depends on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. Still, both have been a complete failure in the last two matches which have also affected the result of the team.
While speaking on his YouTube Channel after the defeat of RCB against SRH, the renowned commentator observed that he could not point mistakes in the performance of openers. Devdutt Padikkal, who starred against MI, had a bad day while his partner Josh Philippe was the only one who showed grit to score runs. The wicketkeeper-batsman scored 32 runs off 31 balls and was the highest scorer for them.
“RCB got off to a slow start on a slow pitch. To be honest, I can talk about Devdutt Padikkal but he played well in the last match and Joshua Philippe, who did not bat that badly, he is one of the highest run-scorers.”
Aakash Chopra stated that in the last couple of matches, Kohli and de Villiers had not been par with the standards they have set for them. According to him, the outcome of matches depends on the duo’s performance.
“This game was all about Kohli and AB in my opinion. The RCB batting is not working. Kohli and AB are going to pay a huge price for their own success because they have set the yardstick very high and the two of them are not delivering to the standards they have set for themselves towards the business end of the tournament,” Aakash Chopra added.
RCB excessively reliant on Kohli and de Villiers: Aakash Chopra
Recalling the defeat against CSK in their second meeting, Chopra said that Bangalore would have set up 160 runs target had their two batting mainstay remained longer in the field.
“Whether it was the Chennai match where they were set and expected to take RCB to around 160 but were stopped at 140-145. Here also it was expected that the two of them will take them ahead together, but the team is not able to go ahead,” he said
Aakash Chopra reckons that Padikkal, Josh Philippe, Gurkeerat are just supporting roles in the batting order, but the two protagonists are Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, who are required to take the team forward.
“So if RCB keep losing matches continuously and if these two players don’t score runs regularly, Padikkal, Joshua Philippe, Gurkeerat are all support cast. The DNA of this team is all about Kohli and AB de Villiers scoring runs and they are not doing that,” Aakash Chopra added.
RCB is set to play their last league match against DC on Monday (November 2) in Abu Dhabi. It is a crucial match for them to secure two points and grab the position in playoffs.