IPL 2018: Team wise reason for failure RCB, MI, DD, KXIP

The league stages of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) treated the fans with some great entertainment. There were various permutations and combinations that went in regarding the qualification of the teams. While Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Chennai Super Kings made it into the playoffs quite early, the other two spots were up for grabs.

As many as five teams competed for these two places. In the end, it was the Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals who made it through to the top four. The other teams too gave a stern competition in the tournament but haven’t succeeded as to their liking. Hence, it is imperative to analyse the reasons for the failure of the bottom-four teams.

Here is the analysis of the failure of bottom-four teams:

1. Royal Challengers Bangalore

RCB went into this tournament with the most balanced side they’ve ever had. Moreover, they picked off the “Ee saala cup namde” (meaning- This year cup is ours) campaign ever before the tournament began. It appeared as if they had got quite a few things sorted on paper at the time of auction. They filled their side with some good bowlers and have also somewhat strengthened their middle order.

However, in the real test, they failed terribly. Although they had the resources, they weren’t rightly used at the beginning of the tournament. Virat Kohli’s tactics were questioned and he hasn’t found the right team combinations. Their bowlers leaked a lot of runs towards the death in the initial stages and things completely went the other way of what they expected. The best bowlers weren’t used efficiently and a genuine death bowler like Tim Southee wasn’t roped into the side early on.

Virat failed to pick the right kind of team suitable to win games and he had completely lost the plot in the first game against CSK where he bowled Corey Anderson in the difficult death overs. It took him quite a while to settle in and get everything right but by then, it was too late and every game was a virtual knockout for them.

Key Reason: Questionable tactics from the team management early on in the tournament.

2. Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians too picked quite a decent team at the IPL auction. However, they failed to find the same kind of balance in the team like it was earlier. MI has always been a team where they back their core 4-5 players to perform well and the other players would play around these guys. Exactly that way, they have also got all of their core players back into their team and looked strong on paper although their bowling looked a touch vulnerable.

However, as the tournament began, their core players didn’t really live up to the expectations. Skipper Rohit Sharma who is really like the backbone of the side failed with the bat. He only scored 286 runs in the season which could be one of the major reasons for the poor performances. Furthermore, Pollard neither contributing enough with the bat or the ball in another downside. MI is completely a different side when a player like Pollard is in form.

Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah who form the remaining part of their core didn’t do well in the initial stages of the tournament putting the side under severe pressure. In the last league game as well, where they had a chance to get into the playoffs, these core players threw their wickets away at the wrong time in a game that could have been a cakewalk had they hung around.

Key Reason: Failure of the core players in the team.

3. Delhi Daredevils

Delhi Daredevils had a really good team at the end of the auction. With Gambhir coming back, they received the much-needed boost in the form of a two-time IPL winning skipper. But, things turned out to be disastrous for them with Gambhir quitting midway. They had an uphill task and was never easy for the new skipper Shreyas Iyear to turn things around.

Team selection has been the biggest downfall for Delhi this season. With the likes of Gautam Gambhir and Ricky Ponting in the camp, one would expect that the best XI will be picked. But, to everyone’s surprise, they have picked teams that gave them the worst possible results despite having better players in their ranks.

Players like Sandeep Lamichhane and Abhishek Sharma were given a chance only after they were out of the playoff race. Also, they failed to back their potential top foreign players. Players like Colin Munro and Jason Roy were axed just after one or two bad performances while players like Glenn Maxwell were given surplus chances despite the poor performances.

Key Reason: Poor team selection and the inability to back players.

4. Kings XI Punjab

This season will remain to be a nightmare for the Punjab team for a long, long time. They had everything they wished for in their ranks. Also, they started off in a way much better than they would have hoped. Having won five out of the first six games, getting into the playoffs was never going to be an uphill task until they decided to spoil it all completely.

Ever since they came back from a week-long break at the beginning of May, they never managed to find the momentum they wanted. Everything seems to be going right when you are winning games but the true character of a team is tested only when things don’t go their way. They kept losing games one by one and all their flaws kept surfacing one by one.

It was evident that they went over-dependent on their openers KL Rahul and Chris Gayle. Oppositions found ways to keep this duo quite. No one in the middle order could make a mark for themselves or the team. Senior pros like Yuvraj Singh and Manoj Tiwary had a disastrous season. They had to be left out of the XI for quite some games. Their bowling was too reliant on Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Andrew Tye. As soon as Mujeeb got injured, their bowling too was completely exposed.

Key Reason: Over-dependence on a few players