Bengaluru's kings facing 'bad times'

The nature of Royal Challengers Bangalore's game, in all previous seasons of the Indian Premier League, stayed true to its name – they played like kings and proved to be a challenger for the title till Sunrisers Hyderbad beat them in the final. This season, however, has been less than fortuitous for the Bengaluru franchise, as they languish at the bottom of the IPL points table, having won only two of their 13 matches so far.

One gets an idea about how poorly RCB have fared this season, by looking at the fact that the team has scored over 200 runs in an innings only once. Until last season, thanks to the stellar batting lineup that they boast, RCB was regularly expected to put up scores in excess of 200 every time they began an innings. This season has been a sore disappointment, though.

Their swashbuckling opener Chris Gayle has underperformed this season, scoring a little over 150 runs in eight innings, at an average of only 19 runs. So has the ever reliable South African AB de Villiers, who returned home a few days ago, after a disappointing show with the bat, scoring just 216 runs in nine innings, with an average of 27.

RCB's worst batting performance was against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on April 23, when in an effort to chase KKR's below par 131, Bengaluru spectacularly collapsed for a paltry 49, in just 9.4 overs.

The most unfortunate of the Bengaluru side's batting talismans has been skipper Virat Kohli, whose figures betray the Indian captain's true ability. A shoulder injury during the third Test against Australia in this year's Border-Gavaskar trophy kept Kohli away from the fourth and final Test, which India won comprehensively, along with the trophy.

Since then, Kohli had to walk an arduous road to recovery. He missed out the beginning of RCB IPL season, and his return to the side has not been too impressive either.

Despite his abysmal form this season, Kohli has had the highest batting average among all his teammates, 27.77, in nine innings. The Indian skipper seems to have physically recovered from his shoulder niggle, but what he seems to lack right now is confidence.

As far as RCB's bowling performance goes, leg-spinner Yuzhvendra Chahal, with 12 wickets in as many games so far, is the only bright spot in a lacklustre bowling array. RCB's less than impressive bowling has failed to dismiss all 10 batsmen of the opposing side every single time this season. On the other hand, the side has been all out on three occasions this season, the highest for all teams.

In light of the team's poor display this season, many star players have publicly apologised, including Shane Watson, Gayle, de Villiers and Kohli.

Some may say that it is mere coincidence that the team is going through bad times when its owner, the 'king of good times', himself is facing the wrath of law enforcement authorities. That would, of course, be untrue. One can, however, only wish that like the players of his team, the owner issues an apology to the public as well.