Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 23 (ANI): As Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) aim to break their losing streak of three matches at the home venue of M Chinnaswamy Stadium against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Wednesday, they will have some major bowling concerns to fix, majorly in spin bowling.
Unstoppable and dominant away from home with five successive wins, RCB are struggling to find their groove at home, having succumbed to three successive losses, where their batters could not just give their bowlers a massive total worth defending. Their best bet at finding form at home is a struggling Rajasthan Royals (RR), who are at ninth spot with two wins and six losses and have lost plenty of close matches so far.
One of RCB’s big concerns is how their spinners have performed at home, having taken just one wicket in 15 overs, averaging 144 and leaking runs at an economy rate of 9.6. Away from home, the tweakers have been much better, taking 15 wickets at an average of 35.1 and economy rate of 8.5.
Particularly, the all-rounder Krunal Pandya has struggled pretty badly at home.
In the away clashes in this IPL, Krunal has picked 3/29 in four overs against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), 0/26 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), delivered a brilliant 4/45 spell against Mumbai Indians (MI), and conceded just 29 runs for a wicket in four overs against Rajasthan Royals. Now with figures of 2/25 against PBKS, Krunal has taken 10 wickets in 18 overs away from home, at an economy rate of 8.55. However, at the home venue of M Chinnaswamy Stadium, he has fallen flat, going wicketless in six overs and conceding runs at an economy rate of 10.50.
Suyash Sharma (four wickets in seven matches at an average of 56.50) and Liam Livingstone (two wickets in seven matches at an average of 38.00) have also struggled in the competition.
Will RCB’s spinners step up and give the home crowd the joy of the first two points at Chinnaswamy? (ANI)