IPL 2022 | Royal Challengers Bangalore Report Card: Hope turns to pain and disappointment again

After captaining the side for 8 years without having won the trophy, Virat Kohli had decided last year to step away from the captaincy of the franchise. This made things exciting for RCB fans as there was constant speculation about who will lead them in this year's IPL. Prior to the mega-auction, teams had to release players and were allowed to only retain four players. The players that the franchise retained were Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj. They had to build a solid team just like every other franchise at the mega-auction with the added challenge of finding a new skipper. 

But, it seemed like RCB had set their eyes on the guy who they wanted as their leader and they went after Faf du Plessis who was released by CSK ahead of the auction. Looking back now, it feels like giving INR 7 crore for a guy like Faf du Plessis was a steal. RCB managed to put together a relatively good squad around him. 

This can be backed by the kind of IPL that the team has had this season. 

Let's have a look at their season:

Batting- B

Royal Challengers Bangalore were good with the bat when it comes to scoring runs. They managed to score 2454 runs from 15 matches in IPL 2022. RCB is the third best when it comes to scoring runs this season. The Faf du Plessis-led side is also the third-best when it comes to hitting fours and sixes this season. During their IPL 2022 campaign, RCB smashed 222 fours and 102 sixes which makes it a total of 324 which is the second-best in the tournament with only Rajasthan Royals ahead of them.

But to understand this better, let's see how they did in the powerplay. 

Powerplay C

This is where RCB struggled during IPL 2022 as they got the chance to bat first nine times during the tournament. A batting line-up that had Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis in their top order could not make the most of the powerplay when batting first. RCB scored 363 runs from 324 balls which is far from being anywhere near the best. Losing wickets early in the innings in almost every game did not allow them to go hammer and tongs in this phase of the innings.

Death Overs- A

Since the arrival of Dinesh Karthik in RCB, the side became one of the best in IPL 2022 during the death overs. RCB smashed 455 runs from 247 balls making them the second-best in the cash-rich league when it came to batting in the final phase of the batting innings. 

Bowling- B

When it comes to bowling as a unit, RCB has managed to do well. The Faf du Plessis-led side managed to take 97 wickets during the season. They were only behind Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals when it came to comparing them with others which shows the kind of impact they had with the ball in IPL 2022. 

Powerplay- C

RCB has done very poorly when it comes to bowling in the powerplay as they have only managed to pick 19 wickets from 16 games which makes them the second-worst performing team in IPL 2022. This is a major reason why RCB struggled in many of the games as the opposition used to take the game away from them in the powerplay and a huge example of that is the game against Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 where Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal took their bowlers apart.

Death Overs B

RCB's bowling during this phase of the innings has been average at best. The franchise managed to pick 31 wickets in IPL 2022 during the death overs which is better than KKR, CSK and PBKS. However, it is not anywhere near the top-performing teams that have done well in this department.

Captaincy A 

Faf du Plessis has been a terrific captain this season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He had to take over the job from Virat Kohli who had led this team for 8 years but could not win the IPL. However, with Faf coming as their leader it seemed like his personality started rubbing off on the other players on the team. The South African is calm and does not show much emotion and yet controls the game with ease. 

He gave confidence to the players in the team and backed them from the beginning. During Virat Kohli's tenure, there used to be a lot of chopping and changing but after Faf's arrival, players started getting a longer rope and were not dropped. This helped RCB to do well in the season and helped them win the eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants. Reaching the second qualifier in his very first season as captain shows that he can do even better with RCB in the coming years.