This year RCB, very rightly, focussed on getting a good opening partnership: Harsha Bhogle

Royal Challengers Bangalore have played five matches so far in this edition of Dream11 Indian Premier League and have managed to win three of them. This season has been a bit different than the past few. 

Harsha Bhogle the cricket expert-cum-commentator wrote about how RCB brings the element of entertainment to the tournament in his column for Timesofindia.com. "While they provide great value and entertainment for cricket lovers, being a fan of Bangalore comes with a warning; it is not for the faint-hearted. With the incandescence of Kohli and AB, and the guile of (Yuzvendra) Chahal, they are always a team you want to watch, but the occasional meltdown means the fans are always on the edge of their seats.”

"They have played five games this year and while that is not enough to search for patterns, it is a decent number to propose a hypothesis," he added.

Harsha rightly pointed out how the Bengaluru side concentrated on getting a good opening combination which tends to ease the pressure on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. He also heaped praise on the young Karnataka lad, Devdutt Padikkal.

"This year Bangalore, very rightly, focussed on getting a good opening partnership to ease the pressure on Kohli and de Villiers and in Padikkal they have showcased a fine talent. But if you notice, teams that are doing well bat deep and have a fairly consistent batting order. And I am beginning to wonder that while the emphasis on the engine room of the top four batsmen is still a valid factor, whether we need to look at the role of a reliable, dominant number 5 and 6," Bhogle further wrote.

The 59-year-old believes that once Chris Morris is fit and ready to play, it will give the middle more assurance and balance.

"Coming back to Bangalore, if Moeen Ali and Shivam Dube and Chris Morris, when he becomes available, provide that kind of assurance, Kohli can play with far greater freedom. I got the impression that he held himself back too long against Delhi because he probably wasn’t too sure of numbers five, six and seven," Bhogle concluded.

[With TOI inputs]