Another season of disappointment for RCB as their wait for a title continues. From 2020 to 2022 they seemed to have solved some of their age-old issues. In those three seasons, the bowling looked better and the batting line-up contributed as a whole. 2023’s story though is a story that takes fans back to the RCB of old.

Back in the earlier seasons, the Royal Challengers Bangalore had a set template. They packed their batting and gave the best spots in the line-up to Ab De Villiers, Chris Gayle, and Virat Kohli, allowing the trio maximum opportunity to perform at their best. The bowling though took a massive hit as there was nobody prominent or consistent, and the death bowling aspect looked non-existent.

This season, Bangalore, knowingly or unknowingly went with a similar template. They had Virat Kohli, Faf Du Plessis, and Glenn Maxwell in the top three. The top three scored 70% of the team’s runs through the season and Kohli and Faf Du Plessis were handsomely at the top of the team’s run-scoring charts. In 14 games, Bangalore made it past 180 nine times, while Faf Du Plessis had 8 fifties with 730 runs. Virat Kohli was not far behind with 639 runs and Maxwell had a tally of 400. The rest of the line-up though made 733 in fourteen games.

With nominal contributions from the rest, the hole in the line-up looks rather evident. Where did it go wrong though? Last season Bangalore had a pretty similar line-up with the bat. This time around, they did lose Rajat Patidar, and to add to their concerns both Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed failed to replicate their performances from last season, as the pair held the side together with the bat in the death overs. The middle order which consistently had the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mahipal Lomror, and Anuj Rawat failed to deliver.

Along with them, the likes of Suyash Prabhudessai and Kedar Jadhav were tried as well. In the end, though, Dinesh Karthik, who was spectacular in 2022, was a big factor in RCB’s struggle. Without Patidar, and with the likes of Ahmed and Lomror struggling as well, Karthik had nobody to support him at the back end, not allowing a struggling Dinesh Karthik some respite in the back end.

The lack of hitters in the back end proved to be the difference as Bangalore struggled to finish off close games with wickets falling in clusters at the back end of stiff run-chases. With the top order doing most of the work though, there was a case of the middle order not getting too many opportunities, which had them feeling a touch rusty when they were needed.

Another aspect that took RCB fans back to the previous seasons was the bowling. Mohammad Siraj stood out for them up front, bowling really well with the new ball. Apart from Siraj though, RCB did not have much to show for consistently. While they did bowl out the Rajasthan Royals for a score of 59, the bowling collectively had its issues. To add to their issues, they had a few injury concerns with Reece Topley out early, and Josh Hazlewood available only for three games.

Without Hazlewood, RCB lost a bowler who did really well for them in the death last season. They had Harshal Patel, but he too struggled, especially on the smaller grounds in Bangalore. With the spin department, Wanindu Hasaranga did not create the impact he had last season, and that was probably the last nail in the coffin as Bangalore had to make things work with a side that had a lot of holes in it.