<p><strong>IPL 5 - Royal Challengers Bangalore - Season Review</strong></p>
<p>Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) possesses the strongest batting line-up in the Indian Premier League (IPL) alongside Delhi Daredevils. In T20 cricket, batsmen play a massive role in a team’s success and this is the reason why Bangalore’s fans always expect
big things from their side. However, RCB is yet to fulfil its potential in the glamorous tournament.</p>
<p>Daniel Vettori and company started the fifth season of IPL as one of the favourites and it was widely expected that the franchise will qualify for the play-offs of the event. However, Bangalore failed to make it to the last four of the competition as they
ended at number five on the points-table with 17 points after 16 matches.</p>
<p>RCB failed to find the right combination throughout the season and such were their troubles that the franchise had to drop its skipper, Daniel Vettori in the latter half of the tournament, in order to accommodate the wily off-spinner from Sri Lanka, Muttiah
Muralitharan.</p>
<p>In the presence of Chris Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, Bangalore was able to post massive totals on the board regularly but their bowlers failed to live up to their expectations.</p>
<p>Zaheer Khan and Vinay Kumar have a lot of international experience but the new-ball duo miserably struggled in IPL 5 to curtail the opposing batsmen. The two premier bowlers conceded more than 7.5 runs per over in the recently concluded season and their
failure is a major reason why Bangalore could not stabilize their playing-eleven.
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Murali, who happens to be the highest wicket-taker in the history of Test cricket as well as One Day Internationals, expressed that finding the right balance is the key for every team and that is exactly what RCB was searching for throughout the season.</p>
<p>The veteran believes that the local players did not contribute towards the team’s cause, as much as they should have.</p>
<p>“You have to balance the side, that’s the most important thing. Sometimes you won’t fit in. Last year, I didn’t fit in for Kochi or when I played for Chennai I didn’t play seven or eight matches. You can’t expect to win only from the contributions of the
international players; the Indians also have to perform,” former Sri Lankan cricketer expressed.</p>
<p>India’s new batting sensation and RCB’s vice-captain, Kohli was also out of touch for most part of the tournament. Vettori, however, felt that the right-hander was working extremely hard and it gets hard for a player to perform consistently all the time.</p>
<p>The RCB skipper said, “Virat had such an amazing year and people expect the same game after game. The thing I look from a player is what kind of effort they have put on the field, that’s what Virat has done.”</p>
<p>Former West Indies captain, Chris Gayle was the stand-out performer for RCB as he held the Orange Cap once again by scoring 733 runs in the league at an extra-ordinary strike-rate of more than 160 runs per 100 balls.</p>
<p>Bangalore is one of the high-profile franchises in the tournament and it is a pity that it could not qualify for this year’s Champions League T20. RCB will be looking to make some changes for the next season, especially in the bowling line-up, as the current
combination does not seem to be working for the franchise.</p>
<p>Overall, season 5 was not satisfactory for Vettori’s men because such a strong unit should have at-least qualified for the play-offs.</p>
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