Former India pacer
Varun Aaron
emphasized the pressing need for
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
's (RCB) domestic players to lift their performance this IPL season, lessening the team's reliance on
Virat Kohli
.
IPL 2024: RESULTS | POINTS TABLE
Kohli has undeniably been the driving force for RCB, leading the batting charts with 361 runs in 7 innings and donning the Orange Cap. His exceptional strike rate of 147.34, coupled with a top score of 113 not out, highlights his immense contribution to the team.
"It's just that RCB are not finding the rhythm, the domestic players are just not stepping up," reckoned Aaron whiel speaking on Star Sports.
Aaron, who was acquired by RCB for Rs 2 crore in 2014, retired from first-class cricket earlier this year.
"If you have to be anywhere at the top of the table or the middle of the table at this point, you have to have domestic players who are firing and you cannot always rely on Virat Kohli. The other guys have to step up and also all their money is sitting in the dug-out. You can't spend that much cash on players and not have them play," said Aaron.
According to Australia's former limited-overs captain, Aaron Finch, RCB require a dynamic middle-order batsman to support Kohli effectively.
"He's (Kohli) scored a lot of runs everywhere. He's a modern day great. And I think the fact that he's getting runs and RCB are still not making it is a positive sign in one degree. It's that when Virat is playing well, that genuinely carries the rest of the players with him.
"They just need to find a partnership with him, they need to find an explosive middle order player who is in form, Lomror has been in and out, so it (
KKR vs RCB
) has got all the makings of an epic game," Finch said.
RCB are scheduled to play KKR at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Regarding Travis Head's explosive 89-run innings for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Delhi Capitals in Delhi on Saturday, Finch remarked that the left-handed opener has truly taken "fear of failure out of his mind'.
"It's always been in him, the ability to play like this. I guess the freedom to express himself and be able to deal with the ups and downs of playing such an aggressive and high-risk brand of cricket, I think has just released him to a new level.
"And I think if you look back at the World Cup final, he kept playing his shots even when there was wickets falling around him, the ball was moving. Because he's taken the fear of failure out of his mind.
"If he misses out five or six times in a row, it doesn't bother him because he knows he's one shot away. He's the type of player that needs one ball in the middle. And that's all it will take for him to get going again," Finch said.
In a high-scoring match where over 460 runs were scored, seamer T Natrajan concluded with remarkable figures of 4/19. Finch suggested that despite Natrajan's outstanding performance, his wickets coming in the late stages of the game, when the result was already evident, likely hindered his chances of receiving the Man-of-the-Match award.
"When 460 runs are scored in a game and a guy gets 4 for 19, that's a special performance. I think the thing that didn't give him the 'Man of the Match' is that the four wickets were right at the death when the game was done and dusted."
Set an imposing target of 267, DC were stopped at 199.
"I think the ability of Delhi to get that run rate under 12 an over was extraordinary and at that stage of the innings, they were in the box seat to win it.
"The wicket slowed up a bit just like Pat Cummins talked about and the ball got a little softer and made it easier for the slower bowlers to grip. It was just one of those things where they couldn't sustain it," Finch said.
(With PTI inputs)
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