Royal Challengers Bangalore are as good as out of the Indian Premier League after they put together back-to-back horror shows with the bat.
On Thursday they were beaten by bottom side Gujarat Lions. It was their sixth defeat of the season and with only five games left they cannot get to the eight wins which are almost always needed for qualification.
Against Gujarat they were bowled out for 134. They had never before been bowled out in successive games and you have to look high and low for many teams who have suffered a similar fate. Losing 20 wickets inside 40 overs is incredibly hard to do.
Previous to the Gujarat loss they had been bowled out for a barely believable 49 against Kolkata Knight Riders. These are two inexplicable batting collapses from a team which includes Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers, the two best batsmen in the world, and Chris Gayle, the West Indies legend of franchise cricket.
Yet get this. When they next play – on Saturday against Rising Pune Supergiant – they are odds on for victory. They are best at 1.95 with Ladbrokes but as short as 1.8 with Paddy Power and other green listed bookmakers.
Hand on heart this has to be some of the worst value I have ever seen for a cricket match. Repeat: Bangalore have been bowled out twice in their last two games for a cumulative total which probably wouldn’t be enough to win them one game. They have lost six of the nine matches they have played and they are grateful for a washout against Sunrisers Hyderabad boosting their points tally to five.
How can they possibly be favourites, skinny ones at that, to beat anybody in this tournament?
This column suggests the firms listed above are given a severe beating for such blind oddsmaking. They have priced up Bangalore because of the star names their possess, ignoring that the star names are probably the chief reason for their malaise.
They are all leaving it to each other. There is no camaraderie, spirit or work ethic. No-one will knuckle down and fight. In the field they barely bother to come up with plans for opposition batsmen.
Let’s look at the contribution of Messrs Gayle, Kohli and De Villiers in that game against Gujarat shall we? Gayle scored eight runs from 11 balls at a strike rate of 72. His career strike rate is 149. Kohli scored ten runs off 13 balls at a strike rate of 76. His career strike rate is 132. De Villiers scored five runs off 11 balls at a strike rate of 45. His career strike rate is 144. So that’s Gayle and De Villiers performing below 50 per cent of their capability and Kohli not much better.
Yeah, let’s back them at odds on to win a game shall we? Jeez, time to fill our boots on Pune more like.
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