Former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain and player, Rahul Dravid, following Brendon McCullum, cited the shortcomings in the franchise in comparison to Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Dravid was part of the RCB lineup during his initial years at the Indian Premier League (IPL). He was taken down as captain in 2009 and Anil Kumble was handed over the captaincy in the subsequent seasons.
After failure in performances in the first season, franchise owners sacked Charu Sharma from the coaching position. Dravid, who was the Test specialist in the Indian team, then made a move to Rajasthan Royals, both as a player and coach.
On the flipside, CSK enjoyed success throughout all seasons in the competition. The IPL champions of 2010, 2011, and 2018, have entered in eight finals in the history of the tournament.
“When they got into the IPL, Chennai probably had an advantage over a lot of other franchises because their owners, India Cements, were already in the business of running cricket teams,” Dravid quoted in Tim Wigmore and Freddie Wilde’s book.
“CSK was just the most high-profile team that they ran. So in a sense, they’ve always had people on the ground, and their scouting system was probably better right at the start than any other team,” added Dravid.
Meanwhile, RCB over the years has struggled overall, languishing at the bottom half of the league table. They are yet to open their account in the titles count.
“Bangalore has never balanced their team very well. I think they’ve been very poor with selections and auctions,” continued the NCA head.
The Bengaluru-based franchise has tended towards a galactico of star batsmen, overlooking quality bowlers.
One of the three successful ventures for RCB, when they managed to reach the finals, came on the back of Mitchell Starc back in 2011.
“Bangalore has never balanced their team very well. They had their best year when they had a bowler like Mitchell Starc, who was able to close out games for them. But they kept going out and picking gun batsmen,” continued Dravid.
Also, Dravid pointed out that CSK’s affinity towards scouting quality domestic talents enabled them to form a core unit. A team can only field four overseas players in the lineup. Dravid even observed a lapse during auction strategies using the case of Yuvraj Singh.
“There are a lot of foreign players available for four slots. But there are a limited number of quality Indian players available, and the fact that CSK has been able to get some of the best guys have meant that they have always had that core,” ‘the Wall of Indian cricket’ explained.
RCB’s batting massive lineups over the years have somewhat hampered their bowling pool of players.
“That’s where Chennai has always been successful because they’ve often had stronger bowling than Bangalore. For RCB, you always felt they would be chasing a gun death bowler.”
“Then the first thing you realize is they’ve spent 15 crores on Yuvraj Singh, and you think, ‘Oh, sh!t! They aren’t in the market for that!’” and by the time a death bowler comes round, they won’t be able to spend any money so we can outbid them,” concluded Dravid.
