IPL 2013: The Bangalore tragedy

"From comfort to cruelty." Vijay Mallya, the owner of Royal Challengers Bangalore, was succinct on Twitter, summing up his team's Pepsi Indian Premier League 2013 campaign after their loss to Kolkata Knight Riders on May 12. Like last year, Bangalore failed to enter the playoffs again, finishing an agonising fifth.

In a format where batsmen are expected to play a major role in team success, Bangalore's formidable batting line-up was a force to reckon with. Led by Virat Kohli, the team started off as favourites after leading the table midway through the tournament, but lost their way through the business end. Their poor run in the latter half could be attributed to their bowling strength, or the lack of it, as the team failed to defend even massive totals.

On-the-road blues

As has been the trend with most leading teams this season, Bangalore too were masters at home, winning seven of eight games at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. But it was their away record that cost them dear, as they won only twice in eight games. The team's inability to adapt to changing conditions, coupled with their bowling woes, reached telling proportions as the season progressed, and the team swung from defeat to defeat on the road.

The Big Three

In the presence of a potent top order comprising Chris Gayle, Kohli and AB de Villiers, Bangalore were able to post massive totals regularly. By the end of the league phase, Gayle, with 708 runs, was the tournament's top scorer; Kohli, with 634 runs, was third on the list. Bangalore's ascent to the top coincided with the volume of runs from Gayle's bat. The Jamaican power-hitter's unbeaten 175 against Pune Warriors, helping Bangalore to a record 263, was the highlight of their campaign. When Gayle was dismissed cheaply, Kohli and de Villiers stepped up effectively each time. With only the Big Three sharing the responsibility of amassing a bulk of the runs, Bangalore suffered partly on account of their middle order's non-performance. Saurabh Tiwary, Arun Karthik, Moises Henriques , Lokesh Rahul and Mayank Agarwal (who was ruled out of the tournament midway due to injury) were inconsistent and scored very few runs.

Lack of a quality allrounder

The team experimented with three allrounders - Henriques, Daniel Christian and Andrew McDonald - during various stages of the league phase, but none of them managed to deliver. A major factor that separates the top four teams in the points table from the rest is the presence of quality allrounders. Dwayne Bravo (Chennai Super Kings), Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians), Shane Watson and Stuart Binny (Rajasthan Royals) and Thisara Perera and Darren Sammy (Sunrisers Hyerdabad) have all played their part to perfection. But Bangalore failed to get the best out of Henriques, who was mediocre with both bat and ball.

Death pangs

While the bowlers were primarily responsible for the side's inconsistent performances, the lack of a consistent death bowling option hurt the team the most. Bowling has been Bangalore's Achilles heel even in past editions, and the franchise tried to correct it by splurging on fast bowlers in this year's auctions. With two of the leading spinners - Muttiah Muralitharan and Daniel Vettori - benched for most part of the tournament, Bangalore went in with a pace-heavy attack.

An unfit Zaheer Khan meant Vinay Kumar had to take charge. Although Vinay - with 23 wickets from 16 matches - ended up leading the wicket charts for Bangalore, his exploits came at more than eight runs per over. Without a specialist death bowling option, Bangalore went in with whoever had curtailed the opposition at the death in the previous game.

Against Mumbai in their inaugural game of the season, Vinay defended ten runs in the last over, bagging the crucial wickets of Dinesh Karthik and Pollard. But in the next game, he conceded 20 runs in the Super Over after limiting Sunrisers to six in the 20th over. That prompted the Bangalore think-tank to try out RP Singh in the death. Though Singh did a fine job against Hyderabad and Kolkata, the decision to persist with him against Chennai proved to be an expensive blunder. RP not only failed to defend 16 runs in the last over, he overstepped by a big margin with two runs needed off the last ball. Ravindra Radeja top-edged it to third man, thereby robbing Bangalore of what had until then looked like a straightforward win.

Selection gaffes

In an encounter that had a huge bearing on their chances of making the playoffs, Bangalore failed to get their best playing XI on the field. Against Kings XI Punjab in Bangalore, they had to pay a heavy price for the decision to leave out Rampaul, who had consistently provided breakthroughs and kept the runs down, with 12 wickets in nine matches at an economy rate of 6.75 until then. Kohli had no one to turn to when Adam Gilchrist, his opposite number, went after the bowling. In the previous match between the two teams, David Miller's Gayle-esque pyrotechnics had snatched the game from Bangalore's grasp, and Kohli wanted to avoid a repeat. Punjab had three aggressive left-handers in Shaun Marsh, Gilchrist and Miller. Opting for Muralitharan's offspin was a preventive measure. But the move backfired.

Bright spots

Apart from the famed batting trio that decimated most attacks, the bright spot, ironically enough, emerged from the mostly-floundering bowling attack. Rampaul, with 13 wickets from 10 matches at an economy of 6.92, added value. Jaydev Unadkat, also with 13 wickets from 13 games including a five-for against Delhi Daredevils, pitched in effectively.

Despite a contingent laden with megastars, Bangalore rarely found the right combination. The think-tank failed to strengthen a misfiring pace attack after letting Dale Steyn go in the 2011 auction. The existing pace options did the team's fortunes no favours whatsoever.