MUMBAI, Apr 10:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s overseas batters have got a lot of time to turn around a poor start and resurrect a faltering campaign in the Indian Premier League, said fast bowler Reece Topley ahead of their clash against Mumbai Indians here.
Having lost four out of their five matches so far, RCB are in severe pressure to bounce back. They are now faced with an uphill task given that their overseas batters have flopped collectively and bowling has also not clicked together.
With Virat Kohli doing the heavylifting so far with 316 runs at 105.33, the others have fared miserably in their bid to support the former RCB skipper.
The incumbent captain Faf du Plessis has made 109 runs at just 21.80 whereas star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell (32 runs) and Cameron Green’s (68 runs) struggles have added to RCB’s misery this season. All three of them have featured in each of the five matches so far.
“You can take away the fact that it is the overseas batters (only) and you can probably say, Virat has had quite a load in the run-scoring department,” Topley replied when asked if the failure of the overseas batters has had a strong impact on RCB’s fortunes this season.
“I do not think anyone needs to be an expert to sort of look at everyone’s performances and say they haven’t been up to scratch and that’s all aspects of the game, and obviously now we’ve had five games,” he said.
Topley said it is “still relatively young” in the tournament and the RCB side have enough fire in the belly to turn around their fortunes.
“The exciting part is that it’s still relatively young into the tournament. There’s a lot still to play for and what is exciting is that there’s a lot of time to turn that around and still showcase how good we are.
“At the start of the season (the goal) is to qualify for the finals. To there’s still an opportunity to do that, we’re working hard to make that achievable,” he added.
RCB have lost seven out of their 10 matches so far at the Wankhede Stadium against Mumbai Indians.
“It’s always dangerous when things haven’t been going so well for a side, there’s even more of an emphasis to go out and put the onus on the opposition. We need to put them under pressure and we’ll be doing everything we can to do that,” he added. (PTI)
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