This season of the IPL has thrown up many surprises and googlies, none more unexpected than the decline of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils. Before the start, these two teams were on the shortlist of observers to go the distance but the results shocked everyone.
After the league stage, expectations of DD and RCB bossing others were shattered. Both teams were routed, had forgettable seasons and when the tournament ended they sat close to the bottom.
RCB possessed enormous batting firepower in Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers – the 360 degree megastar – to blow away any bowling combination.
Delhi were carefully constructed to cover all bases, flush with raw Indian batting talent and supported by foreign pace.
However, both teams were plagued by injuries: Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy pulled out of DD, KL Rahul could not assist the RCB.
We examine the strange similarities between the two teams.
1) Both teams have a modest IPL record, neither have won the league. RCB were runners-up last year. DD are yet to make the final after ten seasons and, regrettably, have finished in the bottom half for many seasons. This time DD won 6 games and RCB notched just 3, two of those against DD!
2) On paper, both appeared formidable, balanced sides. Delhi were oozing with Indian batting talent (Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair and Rishabh Pant). And RCB were supported by international superstars – Gayle and ABD.
3) RCB are captained by Virat Kohli, a Delhi player. DD are captained by Zaheer Khan, an ex-RCB player. They were also captained for a few matches by Karun Nair, a Bangalore player.
4) RCB are coached by Daniel Vettori, a former DD player/captain. DD are mentored/ coached by Rahul Dravid, former captain of RCB.
5) RCB’s base – Bangalore's Chinnaswamy stadium – is small. DD's base – Feroz Shah Kotla – too is small. Both grounds are unfriendly for bowlers and known for big hitting. But in this season, playing conditions changed: The Delhi wicket was not as slow compared to the past and Bangalore’s pitch surprisingly assisted spin.
6) Trent Woodhill, RCB's batting coach, worked earlier with DD for many seasons.
7) RCB' batting hero ABD started his IPL career with DD, but was released later.
8) RCB's rockstar Kevin Pietersen made the reverse journey, moving from RCB to DD and went on to captain the side. His move was similar to that of Zaheer Khan, an ex- RCB player, who shifted to DD and became captain.
9) Other interesting player transfers between RCB and DD:
- Kedar Jadhav from DD to RCB
- Varun Aaron from DD to RCB
- Pawan Negi from DD to RCB
10) The curious case of Pawan Negi: Purchased last year by DD for Rs 8.5 crore but released after a poor season. Bought by RCB for Rs 1 crore and played a key role in both the games where the RCB defeated the DD this season. He picked up three wickets for 10 runs in the second match.
11) Both RCB and DD have a strong South Africa connect. RCB with ABD and Tabraiz Shamsi, DD with De Kock, JP Duminy, Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada.
12) Both RCB and DD made major investments in the fast bowling department this season. RCB paid Rs 12 crore to bring in Tymal Mills, a death over specialist, from England. DD paid Rs 5 crore to acquire Rabada from South Africa .
RCB and DD would like to erase the current year's results, move on and look optimistically at the next season. Kohli has spoken about coming back strong and Dravid, while bemoaning close games lost, has reiterated his faith in his young team.
Cricket is annoyingly uncertain and the IPL by its nature is very difficult to call. DD and RCB are good sides but neither had luck going for them. To use a cricket cliche – the ball just did not run for them!
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