'Not winning the title keeps increasing the pressure' - Gautam Gambhir on why an IPL title has eluded RCB

Gautam Gambhir feels that Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers will be under pressure come the resuming edition of the Indian Premier League, 2021 as the Royal Challengers Bangalore have not been able to win an IPL title even once. Though the RCB made a brilliant start to their 2021 campaign and were situated at the third spot in the tally at the time of the season suspension, they will have to ensure to maintain that momentum again as the UAE leg of the season resumes from September 19.

The tournament was postponed earlier this year due to the emergence of Covid-19 cases inside the bio-secure environment prepared for the league, forcing the BCCI and IPL Governing Council to postpone the tournament for an indefinite period before it was rescheduled in the UAE.

There’s a lot of pressure on Virat and AB: Gautam Gambhir

Speaking exclusively on the Star Sports show Game Plan, former Team India batsman Gautam Gambhir revealed why he thinks Kohli-led RCB has not managed to win even a single title thus far.

“He’s (Virat) got people like AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell, which is a huge cushion to have. Even if it’s not Maxwell, AB is a massive cushion because there is only one person who can take on someone like Jasprit Bumrah and it was AB de Villiers. I have not seen anyone else who has done it that consistently against Jasprit Bumrah, but AB is a freak.”

“But yes obviously, from Virat’s standard they would want to go out and dominate the opposition, especially in the IPL. There’s international cricket where you’ve got 5 or 6 top international bowlers, you don’t have that in the IPL. You probably get 2 or 3 international bowlers and then you’ve got domestic bowlers as well, whom you could dominate. So, probably there’s a lot of pressure on Virat and AB as well, which could be one of the reasons and year after year, if you don’t win that title the pressure keeps on increasing as well,” added Gambhir.

Royal Challengers Bangalore will resume their proceedings against Eoin Morgan’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on September 20.