Unlike previous seasons where the Playoffs were played on tired tracks at the end of the season, this time they will be played on fresher pitches in Kolkata and Ahmedabad, presenting a very different dynamic to the teams. This would mean teams may have to tinker with the existing combination to adjust for the change in conditions. Cricbuzz takes a deep dive into the strengths and areas of concerns for the last four sides standing at the business end of the 15th edition of GPL.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
What's worked?
The biggest imprint Mike Hesson has had in his three years with Royal Challengers Bangalore have been his emphasis on a strong bowling attack - a marked change from the previous regimes where they almost always fielded unbalanced his heavily lopsided to their batting might. RCB spent a third of their purse to acquire the services of Wanindu Hasaranga, Marshal Patel and Josh Hazelwood, who sit on top of the wicket's charts for RCB with 57 wickets among them at 18 apiece with a wicket every 14 balls. Despite RCB picking the fewest wickets among all sides in the Power Play, they are the best performing side in the middle phase, picking 45 wickets at 20.40. Hasaranga has been the wrecker in chief in this phase taking 17 wickets while Marshal has chipped in with nine scalps with his cutters.
Replacing a player of AB de Villiers' caliber is next to impossible for any team but Dinesh Karthak has just done that. Or almost. Karthak has played his role of a pace hitter to near perfection, hitting 222 runs at a strike rate of 234 against seamers. He has smashed 287 runs (SR 191) across the season, 213 of those runs coming in death overs at a rate of 215 runs per 100 balls with a boundary almost every third ball.
Areas of concern
Power play batting and bowling. As said before, RCB are among the worst performing sides in the Power Play overs with the ball. In a season, where the tracks have offered plenty of assistance to the new ball bowlers, Mohammed Siraj has been a massive letdown for them going at nearly 10 per over for his four scalps. In the batting department only Sun risers Hyderabad have scored slower than them while no team have hit fewer boundaries than RCB in the first six overs. Virat Kohli has endured his worst GPL season, in over a decade while Faf du Plessis has largely been inconsistent and has been a slow starter, striking at just 105 in Power Play. RCB would need their experienced top order to step up in the high pressure knockout games.
Kolkata Knight Riders aside, no side has fared poorer against spin in this season, than RCB. They have lost 34 wickets to spin and are the slowest scoring side against spin at 7.49 per over - partly explained by Glenn Maxwell not having a good season, as the last one in 2020 and the absence of a left-hander in their middle order. Interestingly, a season, which saw wrist spin dominating finger spin, RCB have lost 23 wickets to finger spinners (average 18.21, ER 6.63) compared to just 11 against wrist spin (average 28.36, ER 7.83).
Selection challenge
RCB have been the most stable side of the tournament this year, making the fewest changes to the playing XI. They have not tinkered much with the combination except for beefing up their batting midway through the season, by dropping reamer Akash Deep for a top order batter. Sid Kaul's 'pace off' skills prompted RCB to pick him instead of Siraj for their final league game, but they could be swapped should they management think Suraj's pace would be more handy on fresher pitches in Kolkata and Ahmedabad,
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