Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) couldn’t have a winning start in the IPL 2022 as they went down against Punjab Kings despite batting well and putting a substantial total on the board. Generally when a team puts more than 200 runs on the board, they are expected to win, but in RCB’s case, it seemed like they were behind the game most of the time in the second innings despite having a huge score to defend.
Here are the two reasons why RCB lost their first game against Punjab Kings –
Pitch got easier to bat on for Punjab Kings
In the first innings, for the first few overs in the powerplay, the ball was holding into the wicket a little bit and it was not easy to play through the line of the ball. However, the nature of the pitch changed as the game went on, as the ball started skidding onto the bat and the strokeplay got easier. That was the reason why RCB, in the second half of their innings, were able to hit a lot of sixes as well, which they were not able to do early on because of the hold in the wicket.
Punjab Kings, on the other hand, got easier conditions to bat on right from the start of their innings which they capitalised on and chased down the target of 206 runs set by RCB.
RCB didn’t have an off spinner
Punjab Kings had a couple of left handers in their top 3 and it was comparatively easier for them to deal with the leg spinner that RCB had in the form of Wanindu Hasaranga because the ball was spinning into their arc. If RCB had an off spinning option in the form of Glenn Maxwell, Punjab’s left handers would have had to hit the ball against the spin, rather than with the spin, which would have been a riskier option and might have fetched RCB a couple of quick top order wickets.
