RCB superstars Gayle, De Villiers, Watson cannot underperform

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have a world class batting lineup and there is no doubt about it. The names in that lineup are enough to send chills down the spines of the bowlers of the opponents. Despite having a threatening lineup, Virat Kohli's RCB have been let down because of their poor batting in this edition of the IPL. 

Chris Gayle, Shane Watson, Ab de Villiers all have been underperforming and that has hurt Kohli and co. in IPL 2017. These players can tear apart the bowling attack of any opponent but they have not been able to do it this time around. 

Gayle has scored just one half-century in five matches. The big West Indian opening batsman has scored only 69 from 70 balls in the powerplay overs in this 10th edition of the IPL. His dot-ball percentage is also shocking 61.5 %, which is the worst among all the batsmen in IPL 2017. 

Watson has scored 61 runs in five matches at an average of just a little above 15. A player of his standard and class should not be really pleased with those statistics. He was even leading the side in Kohli's absence but could not make an impact there as well. 

AB de Villiers also have bagged one fifty in this season. A player of his calibre is worth much more. He forms the backbone of that RCB middle-orde. Although, he has scored 148 runs from 4 games, but he should be scoring a lot more runs. He is nowhere in the top 10 highest run-getters of the tournament. 

If these players start delivering for Kohli, then a lot of pressure will be eased off the RCB skipper. They had done it in the last season and they could do it again. We can only hope for the best. 

• IPL
• IPL 2017
• Chris Gayle
• RCB
• AB de Villiers
• Shane Watson