Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 19 (ANI): Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar said that Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) would be worried with the kind of pitches they are getting at home and could require “recalibrating their batting approach”.
RCB’s poor home run continued as they suffered their third successive loss, losing to Punjab Kings (PBKS) by five wickets in a low-scoring, rain-affected, 14-over-a-side match on Friday. They are yet to get a victory at their home venue of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Speaking on JioHotstar’s ‘Match Centre Live’ after the game, Bangar, the JioStar expert for IPL 2025, said, “They would be worried, to be honest, with the kind of surfaces they are getting. Who would have expected the amount of bounce that was on offer on this pitch? Nobody expected that. If that continues, this is no longer a batting-friendly surface or venue. RCB may need to recalibrate their batting approach to get things back on track in home games.”
He continued that a couple of early dismissals were understandable since, in a rain-affected match, they were trying to post a big score, and teams usually do not have an idea of what a big score is in such conditions.
“But the way Liam Livingstone and Jitesh (Sharma) got out, and you would expect a little more from Krunal Pandya as well — those three were disappointing. At one point, they were in danger of being bowled out for under 50. Credit to Tim David though — he held on and made a bit of a match out of it with a well-composed drift,” he concluded.
Coming to the match, PBKS won the toss and opted to field first. In a bid to score big, RCB tried to attack and slog at every ball, losing seven wickets for 42 runs in the process. However, a fiery half-century from Tim David (50* in 26 balls, with five fours and three sixes) helped RCB reach 95/9 in 14 overs.
Marco Jansen (2/10), Yuzvendra Chahal (2/11), Arshdeep Singh (2/23) and Harpreet Brar (2/25) consistently troubled RCB with their bowling.
During their run-chase, PBKS also lost some wickets as RCB did not give up easily. PBKS was reduced to 81/5 in 11.3 overs, but Nehal Wadhera (33* in 19 balls, with three fours and three sixes) kept his calm and guided his side to a win with 11 balls left. Josh Hazlewood (3/14) was the pick of the bowlers for RCB.
David got the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his fighting knock that gave RCB something to fight for.
With this win, PBKS went to the number two spot, with five wins, two losses, and 10 points. RCB is at fourth spot with four wins, three losses, and eight points. Both teams will lock horns again on Sunday at the Mullanpur Stadium. (ANI)
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