Virat Kohli became a mime artist at slip early in the Punjab Kings’ modest chase of 95. He directed his captain, Rajat Patidar, who was positioned all the way at mid-on, to move a deep fielder squarer with emphatic motions. Using a ballooning ball and a fictitious pull shot, Kohli theatrically concluded the act. Bhuvneshwar Kumar dug in on the next delivery. Singh Prabhsimran complied. The error sailed just as Kohli had drawn it up, falling just inches short of Yash Dayal at deep square-leg.
A pattern has developed over the course of three games at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, both inside and outside of the PowerPlays: the pitch is encouraged to misbehave, quick bowlers with mid-on and mid-wicket in, grass left bare in front of the square, and horizontal bat shots are encouraged. In what has otherwise been a very promising first half of the season, RCB has turned out to be the one who has continued to fall for the bait: three home games, three falls, each one a mirror held up to their own blueprint.
The statistics are incriminating. Delhi Capitals seamers bowled 27 back-of-good-length deliveries in RCB’s last home match, giving for just 26 runs and taking two wickets. Faf du Plessis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, and Abishek Porel were among the three Delhi batsmen who were caught in the cross-batted trap.
Nevertheless, the lessons were not learned against the Punjab Kings. The top order of the RCB thrashed and failed once more after being called in to bat, swinging across the line and losing wickets at a low cost. Arshdeep Singh was driven for four after starting with a full delivery to Phil Salt in an attempt to find swing. Salt was caught in the trap before the Indian seamen had time to retract his length. Kohli then failed to clear mid-on with his attempted pull after being hit by Arshdeep. Liam Livingstone charged out to Xavier Bartlett and holed out in an attempt to create length. Krunal Pandya also attempted the pull but was unsuccessful.
This season, Bengaluru has seen far too many instances of a miscue blowing up and landing in the hands of a fielder inside the circle. Five RCB wickets came from 47 deliveries from PBKS’ pacers that were either back-of-good length or good (six to eight metres from the stumps), costing only 50 runs. RCB was already chasing the game at 33 for 5 at the beginning of the seventh over.
After the game, Josh Hazlewood, who had another successful game, summed up RCB’s surprise at how their home has behaved in a concise manner: “Yeah, I think it’s not a typical Chinnaswamy wicket.” This has already garnered a lot of column inches. The bounce has undoubtedly always existed, but it has most likely been more steady in previous years. We’ve discovered that it can be difficult to bat if you hit the wicket hard on that six- to eight-meter stretch.
RCB hasn’t been treated well either, to be fair. Since Patidar has lost all three throws, his team has had to calculate a par score each time, which is a disadvantage on a field that is known for being hard to defend. They also had to exert more effort because Friday’s game was cut down to 14 overs each side. The RCB dilemma then arises. They were criticized for years for using their batting power too little at a stadium designed for large totals, frequently depending on an anchor and giving their top hitters too little leeway. Now that they have a strong lineup of hitters and have adopted a full-throttle batting strategy, they are faced with a surface that might just be open to a little bit of that traditional, slow-burning innings-building technique.
“Maybe it might be a case of pulling back a touch and having a look… giving yourself a little bit of time,” Hazlewood reckoned. “I know in the first two games we lost here it was a batter down the team going big and getting a partnership and scoring big late in the game. So if we can have a top five, top six doing the batting for the 20 overs, I think that will go a long way to helping us win.”
For a team desperate to end a title drought, though, two stumbles, that weren’t mere coincidences as Patidar pointed out, should have already sparked some course correction. As KL Rahul showed with his chasing masterclass of tempered aggression the other night, the runs are there to be had, just slightly later in the innings, if one is shrewd enough to pick the right bowlers, the right lengths, and the right shots. Even tonight, Tim David waited for his moment and took Harpreet Brar for 21 in a single over. Nehal Wadhera cashed in when Suyash Sharma missed his lengths during a tight phase in the chase. RCB, in contrast, have tried to stay true to their doctrine but have ended up in strange positions, like their ace spin-hitter Patidar falling to (admittedly high-quality) spin twice (Kuldeep, Chahal) on a pitch where fast bowlers have posed the biggest challenge off the deck.
Irony was doubled when Marcus Stoinis, a PBKS batsman, ended the game with a cross-batted swipe—the same move that has regularly undone RCB this season. An appropriate conclusion to a well-known tale.
Since they have performed well on the road, RCB could have been pushing for the top spot rather than battling in mid-table traffic if they had won any of their three home games thus far. There are no extra points for home victories, according to Cricket Director Mo Bobat, but failure to take advantage of familiar conditions puts pressure on away games where teams must adjust on the fly. They’ve shown they can improvise on the fly, but it is time to deliver by design.
The good news? With three of their final four games set at the Chinnaswamy, there are still four opportunities left in the second half, including a crucial run-in. Some degree of flexibility and home mastery are unavoidable if a postseason run is in the cards.
