The Royal Challengers Bangalore, prior to the start of IPL 2016, were one of the serious title contenders, but they have failed to impress as a unit. RCB have accumulated just eight points from their ten matches so far, and are in a serious need to play some quality cricket in their last four round robin games, and increase their chances of qualifying for the playoffs.
One of their key all-rounders Shane Watson believes it is time for all the RCB players to deliver in IPL 2016 as a unit.
"We (RCB) have four important games to go. Our whole unit, not just our batting, also bowling and fielding can click all together for this last four very important matches," Watson said in an event in Bengaluru on Friday.
RCB batsmen including Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have been brilliant in IPL 2016, scoring 568 runs and 409 runs respectively. With players like De Villiers, Kohli, Watson and Chris Gayle, they are a 'top-heavy' side.
"We have some of the best players (batsmen) in the world playing, so that means our batting is going to be top-heavy," Watson said.
Though they have some incredible batsmen in their line-up, RCB bowlers have been below par, which has led to embarrassing losses as well. The RCB bowlers have failed to defend huge scores of 191 runs (against Delhi Daredevils), 180 (Gujarat Lions), and 185 (Kolkata Knight Riders), which is not a hallmark of a great team. RCB bowlers have been poor during the death overs as well.
However, Watson, who has been one of the best bowlers for RCB, picking 14 wickets so far, believes injuries have not helped them this season.
They lost some key bowlers to injuries. Mitchell Starc was ruled out before IPL 2016 even started, while Samuel Badree, after sustaining an injury during the World T20 final, could not feature for RCB this season. To make matters worse, Adam Milne was also ruled out of the competition recently due to hamstring injury.
Such injuries have disrupted their team combination to a certain extent.
"We are missing some of our players because of injuries, which makes it very difficult to try and balance out the squad, comparing to what we had before, leading into this tournament," Watson said.
