Royal Challengers Bangalore is one of the most exciting franchises in IPL. Despite not winning a trophy yet, the team relishes the aid of an extensive fanbase. One of the main causes for them not winning a championship, so far, is the team’s over-reliance on certain cricketers. If you take a look at the man of the match award winners for RCB till now, the image will get more precise.
Although they had a bad start to the tournament, RCB picked up with some extraordinary shows in the later editions. In 2016, they also put up a solid display which helped them enter the finals. However, following that, it’s been a descent for them. Particularly since 2018, the fans have not been treated to uniform performances by the franchise. In this article, we take a look at the man of the match award winners for RCB since IPL 2018.
1. AB de Villiers – 9
AB de Villiers has been RCB’s saviour in the last few years. Since 2018, the franchise has had difficulties in fielding a balanced XI. At least, earlier, the team could depend on Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli to do the job. However, after RCB released Gayle, even Kohli has not looked good, and hence, the responsibility has fallen mainly on Mr. 360’s shoulders.
So far, AB has won three awards in 2018, two in 2019 and three in 2020. In the ongoing edition, the South African has already won an M.O.M award. Most of these have come when RCB were under pressure, and hence, these honours are all the more worthy.
2. Virat Kohli – 2
Virat Kohli is the highest run-getter in IPL so far. He is the face of RCB and is the only player who has represented a single franchise for so long. However, since the exceptional season he had in 2016, Virat’s stats have looked somewhat quiet.
Since the 2018 IPL, Team India’s skipper has just two Man of the Match award’s to his name. While he got none in 2018, he got one for his century at the Eden Gardens in 2019 and the second one was for the spectacular 90-run knock against CSK in IPL 2020. For RCB to go far in the competition, Virat has to produce more M.O.M award-winning performances.
3. Yuzvendra Chahal – 2
Yuzvendra Chahal is also one of the man of the match award winners for RCB since 2018. The wily leg-spinner is the best bowler to have represented the franchise. He recently clocked 100 appearances for the Bengaluru-based outfit.
Although he has had a terrific impact in RCB, Yuzi has won just three M.O.M awards in his IPL career. Incidentally, all these three awards have come in the UAE. While Chahal won it for the first time in 2014, the other two have come in IPL 2020. The leg-spinner from Haryana won these awards for his spells of 3/18 and 3/24 against SRH and RR last season.
4. Umesh Yadav – 2
Umesh Yadav was brilliant for RCB in the 2018 season. However, he was inconsistent in the next two editions. Especially in the UAE last season, despite his experience, Umesh often strayed down the line. Hence, the franchise released him ahead of the IPL 2021 auctions.
The Vidharba pacer won both his M.O.M awards for RCB in 2018. In a coincidence, both these awards came against Kings XI Punjab, and on both occasions, Umesh’s spell read 3/23. While the first time, it was at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, next up, the fast bowler repeated the performance at the Holkar Stadium in Indore.
