Royal Challengers Bangalore have done a decent job this season and made it to the playoffs. This is the third time in a row that RCB has qualified for the top four. However, they are yet to win a championship in the Indian Premier League. Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag believes that RCB’s new captain, Faf du Plessis, and head coach Sanjay Bangar have been instrumental in the team’s success this season.
Sehwag also reckons that Virat Kohli as a skipper has made a lot of changes in his time. That have affected the team’s performance. This season, Bangalore has stuck to the same combination in most of the matches apart from dropping Anuj Rawat from the top.
During a discussion with Cricbuzz ahead of the start of the playoff stage, the former opener highlighted the difference in RCB’s performance. He said that the arrival of Bangar and Du Plessis had changed the mindset of the team. Both of them have kept the same team throughout the competition, except for Anuj Rawat and Rajat Patidar.
He also added, “We have seen how Virat Kohli used to think as he used to drop a player after no performance in 2-3 games. I don’t think they made any changes this season due to poor performance.”
Virender Sehwag believes that Bangalore were overly reliant on Kohli and De Villiers’ performances until 2021. But now, with the performance of other players, they have become a dangerous team. He said that last season, all the opposition were looking to stop Kohli and De Villiers to beat RCB, but this season there are four or more players that can be dangerous.
He concluded, “The likes of Dinesh Karthik, Maxwell and others have won a game for each of them. And this looks to be RCB’s year.”
RCB will face Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator on May 25 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. If they are able to win that, then they will face the loser of Qualifier 1 between GT and RR. They will advance to the final after winning the second qualifier only. Notably, Sunrisers Hyderabad is the only team that has won the title after playing the eliminator.