IPL 2024, CSK vs RCB: Pain points that afflicted RCB in opening match

IPL 2024, CSK vs RCB: Top Pain points that afflicted RCB in opening match. RCB's poor bowling cost them match against CSK at Chepauk.

IPL 2024, CSK vs RCB: Cameron Green made his debut for RCB (Images: ©IPL/Twitter)

The 17th edition of the most sought-after T20 league in the world began with much fanfare at the iconic MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Hosts and defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) took on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). This was their 32nd meeting in the IPL with CSK leading the head-to-head with 21 victories.

RCB’s skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bat. Losing wickets at the heap, the visitors found themselves at 78/5, thanks to Mustafizur Rahman‘s stunning CSK debut before a 95-run stand between Anuj Rawat and Dinesh Karthik took them to a respectable 173/6. The defending champions followed a clinical run chase as they cantered to the target with 8 balls to spare.

Brief Scores: CSK 176/4 (Rachin Ravindra 37(15), Shivam Dube 34*(28), Cameron Green 2/28) beat RCB 173/6 ( Anuj Rawat 48(25), Dinesh Karthik 38 (26), Mustafizur Rahman (4/30) ) By 6 wickets.

Pain Points from CSK vs RCB, Match 1, IPL 2024

RCB’s poor bowling 

Though RCB batters didn’t perform up to the mark after opting to bat first, their middle order managed to put in quite a decent total of 173/6. Though it was a below-par total on a good Chennai wicket, it was expected that RCB bowlers would step up and provide them with timely breakthroughs.

But it didn’t happen that way as RCB’s bowling line-up proved to be ineffective against the Super Kings’ batters. Neither RCB’s pacers nor the spinners were effective and this is a huge concern going into the tournament for the team. And even before the start it was evident that their death bowling is rather poor and it proved to be true in the contest against CSK.

Read More: IPL 2024: MI, CSK make smart buys; SRH look settled while RCB lack bowling teeth

RCB is too heavy on right-hand batting, Can Anuj Rawat mix things up? 

A batting order in any format should have a right blend and mixture of right-hand, left-hand batting combination at the top of the order. This brings in the much-needed variety needed as a batting unit and invariably puts pressure on the bowlers to do something new for either batter.

But RCB, going into the tournament opener with a right-handed packed batting order proved to be a not-so-good decision. This is especially true when the opposition bowling attack consists of a potent left-arm seamer who can benefit off the moving ball.

In this game against CSK, the Royal Challengers lost 4 of their top 5 batters to left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman. Though this is too early to scrutinize RCB’s decision to go with an all-out right-handed batting line-up, they should ponder upon their batting combination a lot sooner.

The ideal situation could be to have Anuj Rawat coming as the opener just like he did in the last season. This is because most of the teams have a left-arm seamer in their ranks (Trent Boult, T Natarajan, Mitchell Starc, Spencer Johnson, to name a few) and we have seen them trouble batters, especially right-handers around the globe. This makes a left-handed batter a useful addition to the RCB.

Read More: Top three favourites to win IPL 2024

Are CSK too predictable with 5 bowling options? 

If there is any side in the IPL who have more bowling options at their disposal at a given time, it has to be Chennai Super Kings. They are a team that likes to stack players with more than one ability and in short, they like to have more all-rounders.

But in the opening game at Chepauk, CSK used only 5 main bowlers and never went for the sixth bowling option. This is despite having someone like Rachin Ravindra or the medium pacer Daryl Mitchell. This move didn’t quite work out for the defending champions as they conceded 90 runs in the last 7 overs. So, it will be better if CSK utilises most of their available bowling resources, which might be quite useful as the tournament progresses.

Read More: IPL 2024: Top 5 young players to watch out for