RCB's Home Struggles: A Tale of Two Turfs

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru faces a perplexing problem this season, excelling in away matches but failing at home due to early wickets and difficult pitches. Their aggressive strategy backfires on home soil, where bounce and two-paced wickets challenge their top order.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are struggling with an unusual dilemma this season, as they remain undefeated in away games yet fail to secure a victory on their home turf. In each of the three home matches, RCB lost the toss, batted first on difficult pitches, and could not defend modest totals as dew simplified conditions for opponents, according to ESPNcricinfo. RCB are set to face Rajasthan Royals on Thursday in Bengaluru.

Liam Livingstone and Tim David are the only RCB players to notch a half-century at home this season, in stark contrast to nine 50-plus scores achieved away. At home, RCB's top six average just 13.94 runs per innings—the lowest among teams—and a second-lowest strike rate of 117.28. While aggressive away, their tactics falter in Bengaluru, where attacking too soon during powerplays on tricky pitches results in a wicket every 12 balls.

The RCB top order has trouble managing bounce at home. Of seven powerplay wickets lost to pacers, five were good-length balls and two back-of-length, where their strike rate stands at a mere 58.06. In away games, the team hasn't conceded any wickets to such deliveries in powerplays. In a rain-shortened match against Punjab Kings, the issues emerged again, with several batsmen losing their wickets to short balls.

In remarks reported by ESPNcricinfo, Patidar noted the impact of shot selection, adding, "the wickets are two-paced and the bounce varies," enabling bowlers to extract more dip and bounce. He suggested focusing on square shots for improvement. RCB appears to take more risks at home to set targets, losing wickets to pace every five balls, in contrast to every 21 balls in away games.

(With inputs from agencies.)