Former Indian opening batsman Virender Sehwag highlighted a significant issue within the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) setup as they struggle in IPL 2024. Sehwag, who has played 104 Test matches for India, suggests that the franchise should include several Indian support staff members to facilitate effective communication among the players.
RCB currently finds themselves at the bottom of the points table, having won only one out of seven matches. In their recent game against SunRisers Hyderabad at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, they conceded the highest total in IPL history, with SunRisers posting 287 runs. Despite a valiant effort, RCB fell short by 25 runs. In an interview with Cricbuzz, Virender Sehwag suggests that RCB players encounter challenges related to comfort and language barriers under Du Plessis’s captaincy.
Sehwag, aged 45, raises concerns about the predominance of overseas support staff, questioning how players can effectively address their concerns in such a setup.
Sehwag elaborated: “If you have 12-15 Indian players, just 10 overseas and your entire staff is made of foreigners, that’s an issue. Only a few of them are international players, rest are all Indians and half of them don’t even understand English.”
“How will you motivate them? Who spends time with them? Who talks to them? I can’t see a single Indian staff member. At least there should be someone who the players can confide in. Players need a comfort level which they are not getting presently. Players go blank in front of captain Faf du Plessis because if he asks something, they will have to answer.”
“If the leader is Indian, you can share what’s going through your mind. But if you do that to an overseas player, you may be left out of the Playing XI in the next game. RCB need at least 2-3 Indian support staff,” he added.
RCB’s bowlers have struggled in the current season, with all of them conceding at least 10 runs per over in the match against the SunRisers. Reece Topley was particularly costly, with an economy rate of 17. After the game against the Mumbai Indians, Du Plessis acknowledged that the burden falls on the batters to perform consistently and give the team a fighting chance.
“The franchise loses all its top players to other teams”- Manoj Tiwary on RCB
Former Indian batsman Manoj Tiwary analyzed RCB’s problem, highlighting the longstanding issues of lack of continuity and inconsistencies in their playing XI. He remarked:
“I know where the problem is. From the auction table to the management. All the good players of this franchise leave to go and play for other teams.”
”One of them is the leading wicket-taker this season [Yuzvendra Chahal]. You let them go. You don’t persist with Virat Kohli’s captaincy. He led them to the 2016 final.”
“Then today, the 4 costliest players of the franchise whose collective budget is more than ₹40 crore, are all benched. Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph. Siraj was rested. So when you’re spending so much money and then benching these players, you know where the problem lies.”
RCB won their only match in IPL 2024 against the Punjab Kings, beating them by four wickets at home.
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