Opinion: Curious case of Bangalore and IPL

Last night in the match against Mumbai, when wickets of Bangalore were falling one by one, expressions of dejected skipper Virat Kohli at the non-striker were narrating the sorry tale. 

Kohli played a valiant knock but in the end, his side was comprehensively outclassed by Rohit Sharma-led side. 

All Kohli could do is to watch his teammate playing reckless shots and giving away their wickets. 

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After his unbeaten 92-run knock, Kohli became the highest run grosser of all times in IPL but surely have been a sad man last night, and clueless too. 

For some mysterious and inexplicable reasons, sometimes someone always remains eluded by a specific milestone despite best of efforts. 

Bangalore and IPL remain one such partnership.

Despite having a formidable side over the past decade and brilliant performances in patches, Bangalore remains one of the least achievers in IPL. 

They have played in final thrice but lost out every time.

Bangalore is to IPL what England is to the World Cup Cricket and Netherlands is to the FIFA World Cup. 

England has played in ICC Cricket World Cup finals three times but lost every time.

Similarly, despite having a formidable side and having a streak of world-class players in the lineup, Netherlands could never win FIFA World Cup, which actually they deserved. 

In 1974, Netherlands played outstanding Football right from the word go and looked invincible but lost in the final.

Bangalore has the similar tale at the IPL. In few editions like in 2008 and 2017, they simply imploded despite having a strong side. In few they were outstanding but just couldn't cross the last hurdle. 

In 2016, their run was somewhat reminiscent of Netherland's run in 1974 World Cup. Bangalore in 2016 was a side to beat after first 2-3 weeks. Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Gayle was decimating each and every bowling attack. 

Kohli scored four centuries in a single edition of IPL in 2016. In final, they lost out in a close match to Hyderabad. As mentioned above, next year in 2017, they had a bad start and after few losses, they seemed to have given up and ended last in the table.

The one thing which must be at the top of to-do-list of Virat Kohli is surely to secure one IPL crown for his franchise. But Kohli must be wondering that how to crack this code and break this jinx. In this edition, they have already lost 3 out of 4 matches so far.

With Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, Brendon McCullum in the ranks along with Kohli, this looks like a world beater combination. 

Bangalore, however, is struggling in bowling. They are not able to contain runs in the death over. 

This is one area, which is required to be fixed quickly. Kohli needs to also fix the correct batting line-up and strategy needs to be redrawn. The batting line up is not able to apply itself, which they should, considering its stature.

But at the top of it, legacy is not leaving Virat Kohli-led team. As happened in the past, they continue to underperform in IPL for some unfathomable reasons. 

Though is still early, but if Kohli wants to embrace this eluded IPL title this year, he has to fix issues quickly. And of course, he needs to pray as well for little better luck for his side. 

Bangalore needs to get rid of its typical and consistent knack of underperforming in IPL. 

After all, Bangalore and Kohli deserve at least one IPL title.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)