RCB has faced its second consecutive defeatImage Credit source: PTI
What is the beginning, it does not matter as much as it is important what is the journey after that beginning and then the end. The same story is being seen in IPL 2026, where Punjab Kings and current champion Royal Challengers Bangalore started explosively but now both the teams are suddenly facing defeat. At present, it is only about Bengaluru, which had to face defeat for the second consecutive match. The defeat against Lucknow exposed some of the weaknesses of Bengaluru and it seems that the team is currently playing with 10 players even including the impact players.
Bengaluru’s latest defeat came against Lucknow Super Giants, where the team was defeated by 9 runs. The team was chasing the target of 213 runs and failed in it. This was Bengaluru’s fourth defeat this season and its second consecutive defeat. This was the first match this season when Bengaluru lost while chasing runs. Team’s star batsman in this match Virat Kohli Failed and could not even open an account. But this was the first time in this season when his bat did not work. The real problem for Bengaluru is 2 other players.
Baithal failed to fill the place of salt
In fact, two batsmen from Bengaluru have failed to leave their mark so far this season. These two are opener Jacob Baithal and wicketkeeper-batsman Jitesh Sharma. First let’s talk about Bethal. Bengaluru had retained this young English batsman last year but due to the presence of foreign players like Phil Salt, Tim David and Romario Shepherd, he did not get opportunities. Now as soon as the opportunity arose due to Salt’s injury, Bathal has not been able to impress yet. He has scored only 43 runs in 4 matches. His average is only 10.75. This is much less than Salt, who has scored 202 runs in 6 innings.
Jitesh is not moving ahead of the wicket
On the other hand, there is Jitesh Sharma, who has proved to be very strong as a wicketkeeper but he has been a complete flop in batting this season. Jitesh played a big role in making the team champion by playing some strong innings for RCB last season. But Jitesh’s bat has been a superflop this season. He could score only 64 runs in 8 innings at an average of 8. This is the worst average among all the wicketkeeper-batsmen playing in this IPL. Both these batsmen have not been able to make any major contribution for RCB, which has dealt a blow to the team’s hopes of becoming champion for the second consecutive time.
