25 April,2017 08:01 PM IST | Bangalore | Satish Viswanathan
After a humiliating collapse against KKR on Sunday, Virat-led Bangalore will look to rise back when they face Sunrisers Hyderabad at home today
Virat Kohli
Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli cuts a dejected look during their IPL match vs Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday. Pic/PTI
When you are down at the bottom of the pile, there are only two ways to go. Either you drown in the self-created muck or you swim your way up against all odds. That's the position the Royal Challengers Bangalore find themselves in as they prepare to host last season's defending champions, Sunrisers Hyderabad, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here tonight.
Not unusual for RCB
It is not an unusual position for RCB, they were in a similar state last year and yet made it to the final. But then, they hadn't plunged the depths as such, like they did on Sunday night when they were bowled out by KKR for 49, the lowest ever total in the 10-year history of the IPL. That such a low was hit by a side, which had just the previous week recorded the current season's highest total (213-2 against Gujarat Lions) only makes it all seem so surreal.
Now it's a question of forgetting that Sunday ever happened. After all what are the odds of such a travesty being revisited; surely a side that boasts of batsmen like Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers can't get bowled out for less than 50 again, heck, they shouldn't be making less than 200 in each game actually. So it's a question of putting their best foot forward and simply expressing themselves as only they can.
Bhuvi threat
Not if Bhuvneshwar Kumar can help it. The Purple Cap holder continues to impress with each game and it took someone of MS Dhoni's calibre to finally get one over him but Bhuvneshwar, with 16 wickets under his belt at a fantastic 11 runs per wicket and an economy of 6.28, will not allow that to bother him. He knows he will get hit in T20 cricket, but that he still bucks the trend more often than not makes him what he is.
If Bhuvneshwar doesn't exactly fit the bill of a fast bowler, a successful one at that, given his genial manner on and off the field, similar is the case with RCB's Yuzvendra Chahal. Season after season the leggie, who's not given to turn the ball much and prefers to bowl on non-responsive tracks.
He delivered on Sunday at the Eden, returning with incredible figures of 3-16 from his four overs, but then his batsmen, the famed ones, let the side down. They have their chance to redeem themselves come this evening but first they have to get past Bhuvneshwar.
