RCB’s over-reliance on Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell cost Tom Moody dearly (Sportspix)
Tom Moody pointed out how Rajat Patidar’s absence and Dinesh Karthik’s poor season forced RCB to rely on Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell.
Royal Challengers Bangalore are over-dependent on Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell and that has hurt them during the IPL 2023 season, feels former Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody. He also felt that the absence of Rajat Patidar, while an under-fire campaign from Dinesh Karthik also contributed to RCB’s slump as they narrowly missed the IPL 2023 playoffs.
Patidar was ruled out of the IPL 2023 season due to injury, while Karthik played a key role as a finisher for his franchise last year but failed to rise to the occasion this season.
Thus, it left a lot of pressure on Virat Kohli, du Plessis and Maxwell, who did their best but could not take their side over the line.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Moody explained how RCB’s batting was highlighted by the absence of any big hitters apart from their big three.
“RCB were challenged right from the start of the tournament when Patidar, the key figure at number three, was made unavailable. It exposed their batting and put an enormous amount of pressure on their big three players,” Moody said.
The former Australian all-rounder said, “Patidar’s absence put an enormous amount of pressure on Kohli, Maxwell and Faf, but they handled that pressure and played exceptionally well.”
Karthik’s underwhelming campaign that saw him manage just 140 runs in 13 matches is one of the reasons why Maxwell, along with Virat and Du Plessis, had to do the bulk of the scoring.
“The flip side of their batting was that they didn’t have the power or finishers down the order that many teams have in the sixth and seventh order. DK (Dinesh Karthik) has done that successfully in the past, but he hasn’t had seasons like he has in the recent past,” Modi said.
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“You can’t count on just a handful of individuals to win a tournament. It’s the teams that win the tournament. You’ve got the individuals that will win the games, it’s a classic kind of cliché. It’s an archetype of RCB’s situation.” Example. They had a few guys who could go ahead and ruin the match. But there were a lot of pieces missing,” he added.
After their defeat to Gujarat Titans, RCB could only muster 14 points, while Mumbai Indians’ win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on the last day of the league stage meant that Rohit Sharma’s side outclassed du Plessis’ army.