Royal Challengers Bengaluru are having a tough time in the ongoing IPL as the Faf du Plessis-led team has won only one match out of five. Their latest defeat came against Rajasthan Royals, where RCB failed to defend a target of 184. The match, which was played in Jaipur, saw a century from Virat Kohli but a disappointing show from RCB bowlers took the match away from them. Apart from Kohli, RR opener Jos Buttler also smashed an unbeaten ton in 58 balls.
Recently, Former India opener Virender Sehwag lashed out at RCB skipper Du Plessis and the team management for not rotating the bowlers properly.
"I don't understand the captaincy of Faf du Plessis. The bowler who should not have come in powerplay bowled the last over of powerplay - Mayank Dagar. Even Impact Player, they should have gone with Vijaykumar Vyshak who could have used the cutters well but they went ahead of Himanshu Sharma who failed to create an impact. Don't know what the management is doing or even Faf du Plessis' captaincy was not of high standards," Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
"They committed several mistakes, he didn't even use Glenn Maxwell, one computer analyst said that Buttler's numbers are not very good against off-spinners. Maxwell has dismissed several right-handed batters. I was surprised that Maxwell who is RCB's most successful bowler this season didn't even bowl a single over," he added.
India pacer Mohammed Shami, who was also a part of the discussion, criticised RCB for not using all-rounder Glenn Maxwell as a bowling option during the match against RR.
"I don't get the point that if there is a left-handed batter playing then we will not give the ball to left-arm spinners and if a right-hander is batting then we won't go with the off-spinner. I don't know who made such a rule or what kind of mindset is this, Ashwin is also bowling to right-handers. If you look at the record, Maxwell has been the pick of the bowlers for RCB and you pushed the same bowler out of the game," said Shami.
"Haarne ka kaam toh khud karr rahe ho (RCB are losing the game because of their own wrongdoings). In the batting, he has tried to play the unorthodox shots and got out on them but he has been tremendous with the bowling. But hats off to the RCB captain, he took the main bowler out of the game," he added.
RCB will now be squaring off against Mumbai Indians for their next IPL 2024 clash on Thursday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.