Need to emphasize on basics

So Rahul Dravid's Royal Challengers have yet again been at the receiving end. Reeling at the bottom of the table, the onus was on Dravid and his men to come up with a superlative performance to continue to be considered contenders for a place in the last four.

But one look at the scorecard will tell you the Royal Challengers failed once again, and as has previously been said and written, the batsmen will have to cop a major share of the blame.

The average total in matches when the Royal Challengers have batted first in the tournament is a mere 148 - that's just above seven runs an over, and ten out of ten teams would be more than happy chasing a target of 150 in the twenty-over format.

Let's look at where the problem stems from. In the four matches where Dravid and his team have had the task of setting a target, they've never really had a start. In every one of those games, including today's outing against Kings XI Punjab, they've lost wickets when the fielding restrictions have been in force. Against the Rajasthan Royals, which was the first time they batted first in the tournament, the Challengers lost two wickets in the first six overs; in the game against the Deccan Chargers, they lost Bharat Chipli very early in the innings; in the home tie against the Kings XI, they lost three wickets in the first six overs, and against the Kings XI in their backyard today, they lost three wickets yet again when only two fielders were allowed outside the circle.

One of the best ways to retrieve the momentum after the loss of early wickets is to rotate the strike. And in the case of the Royal Challengers, there seems to be no emphasis on taking those singles and rotating the strike. The most singles they've managed when the fielding restrictions are in force is 14 - against the Deccan Chargers. Surely, even with seven fielders in the ring, one can find gaps and take more singles.

Singles are considered the lifeblood of a cricket match, and Dravid and Co. need to realise this and focus on knocking the ball into the gaps and keep the scoreboard ticking. Given most captains are unsure about what a good target would be, the addition of every single run to the scorecard should definitely be comforting to that clan of individuals in the dressing room called ‘bowlers'.

The Challengers have in their ranks two of the world's most technically solid batsmen. Dravid or Kallis need to open the innings and drop anchor, while also giving the more reputed big hitters in their team a chance to showcase their big hitting skills. The average length of Rahul Dravid's stay at the wicket in this tournament has been 19 balls. Take out his best innings of 66 against the Kings XI, and the total number of deliveries he would have played in the tournament so far adds up to 124 - Dravid, you can surely do better!

Twenty20 has often been spoken about as an entertainment product, with matches packed with boundaries and sixes. However, in the case of the Royal Challengers, even the boundaries and sixes have been hard to come by.

The Challengers have only managed a total of 56 boundaries and 14 sixes in the four matches when they have had the opportunity of setting targets - that's an average of 14 boundaries and four sixes per game.

The averages tell you the story:
Average singles in Power Play overs when batting first - 8
Average singles when batting first - 45
Average boundaries when batting first - 14 (56 runs)
Average sixes when batting first - 4 (24 runs)

Surely, one can't expect to win games with those kinds of numbers.

With his team in bad shape, Royal Challengers' captain Rahul Dravid appears pretty tense and seems to have run out of ideas. He perhaps needs a short session with one of those number crunchers to help establish where things have gone wrong.