IPL 2023 Season Review: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)

Royal Challengers Bangalore with 7 wins in 14 matches, finished IPL 2023 with 14 points at 6th position.

Once again Royal Challengers Bangalore missed out from the playoffs list in the Indian Premier League. They needed to win their last game against Gujarat Titans. Where they crumbled once again in bowling. Despite a brilliant century from Virat Kohli, they could not hold on to the momentum. RCB had a great top-order batting with Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli but they lacked a stable middle order, especially someone at Number 3. Rajat Patidar’s injury made a huge impact on RCB’s campaign. Injuries troubled them all along the season, starting with Josh Hazlewood, Wanindu Hassaranga then Rajat Patidar, and Reece Topley. These injuries put them in trouble finding the right balance in their playing eleven. Almost 75% of runs in RCB were scored by captain Faf du Plessis (730), Virat Kohli (639), and Glenn Maxwell (400). No other batter went above 140 runs mark.

Other than the batting, RCB didn’t look comfortable as a bowling unit as well. Apart from Mohammed Siraj, no other bowler looked in a good rhythm. RCB kept changing their playing eleven. Most of the time, Indian domestic players were at risk of losing their place in the eleven. Bangalore management lacked consistency in building a balanced eleven that could go on and play 4-5 games. Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik’s failure was also a big reason for RCB’s inconsistent run in their campaign. They had a few positives as well with Vyushak Vijayakumar in the bowling attack. Along with Siraj, he had a few great spells in the IPL 2023 under his name. Apart from Cricket, RCB and especially Virat Kohli were also the topic of hot debates for a few tussles on the ground.

Fact Sheet:

Royal Challengers Bangalore have finished 6th in the IPL 2023 points table. Royal Challengers Bangalore won 7 of their 14 league games. RCB started well in the season but somehow they failed to remain in the season. Their NRR also got a hit and they ended on 0.135.

Top Performers

Leading Run Scorer - Faf du Plessis:

RCB skipper Faf du Plessis finished as the leading run scorer for the franchise in IPL 2023. Faf remained consistent in the entire season and smashed 8 half-centuries in 14 league games. Faf could have gone on to touch the 800 runs milestone as well if RCB had played in the playoffs. Faf scored 730 runs in 14 games at an average of 56.15. He tried to go aggressive from ball one and batted with a strike rate of 153.68. Out of 475 balls he faced, smashed 96 boundaries with 60 fours and 36 sixes.

Leading Wicket taker - Mohammed Siraj:

Pacer Mohammed Siraj had a great season with the ball and remained in the race for the purple cap on a few occasions. In the absence of Josh Hazlewood for the majority of the season, Siraj did make an impact but lacked support from the other end. Siraj in 14 league games picked up 19 wickets with a great economy rate of 7.50. Siraj has been the most improved white ball player in recent years.

The Underperformer of the Season

Dinesh Karthik

The IPL 2022 made Dinesh Karthik a star and brought him back to the Indian Cricket team. Karthik earned the reputation of a fine finisher in the previous season. Now in the IPL 2023, he had a forgettable season. He failed to play any big knock in the entire season and could only manage to score 140 runs in 13 games. His average is 11.66 and batted with a strike rate of 134.61. Hitting the ball comfortably in the IPL 2022, he could only smash 5 sixes this season.

Shahbaz Ahmed

Just like DK, Shahbaz Ahmed also earned the India call-up the previous year, with his superb all-round game for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL 2022. Ahmed equally had a poor season with both bat and ball. Bangalore management tried him at Number 3 as well to replace Rajat Patidar but he could not create any impact. Ahmed in 10 games scored mere 42 runs and could only manage to pick one wicket in the entire season. He had to be dropped mid-season due to his poor and underperforming season.

Special mentions

Glenn Maxwell’s experience came in handy for the RCB. Many times RCB were two down inside the power play. Maxwell then took the responsibility and added a few huge partnerships either with Virat Kohli or captain Faf du Plessis. Maxwell went on to score 400 runs in 14 games with an impactful strike rate of 183.48. Overall he batted for 36 overs in total and he smashed 60 boundaries with 29 fours and 31 sixes.

Top team performance

In a controversial game at Ekana, RCB managed to defend their 126 runs total against Lucknow Super Giants. Bangalore won a low-scoring thriller against Lucknow by 18 runs. Josh Hazlewood (2/15) and Karn Sharma (2/20) bowled magnificent spells for RCB to defend a 127 runs target. This game became controversial due to verbal spats on the ground between Virat Kohli and Naveen ul Haq from Lucknow and later on with Gautam Gambhir who is associated with LSG as a mentor.

Captain’s report card:

RCB Captain Faf du Plessis had a great season with the bat but he failed to get the consistency he had from his squad. RCB won 7 and lost 7, showing they have failed to grab a few crunch moments in a long tournament. Their Top 3 have 75% of RCB's scores divided among them, which tells a lot about how they were just banking on the top 3 in the batting and Mohammed Siraj in bowling.

Lessons to be learned

Bangalore management needs to learn to sustain its Indian talents. RCB kept changing their eleven in almost every game, which created a little confusion and lesser confidence among the players. Bangalore have to be aware of their balance and stick with their talents. Also, relying too much on just four members in playing ‘XI’ will always prove costly for any team.