Former RCB captain Anil Kumble recently shared his thoughts on Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s struggles with the bat at their home ground, M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in IPL 2025. With three home matches so far and three straight losses, the team hasn’t been able to deliver for their fans, who continue to show up in huge numbers.
RCB have batted first in all three games and posted underwhelming totals — 169/8, 163/7, and just 95/9 in a rain-shortened 14-over match. Kumble pointed out that the pitch at Chinnaswamy hasn’t been easy for batting this season, making things trickier for the top order.
To fix this, the legendary spinner suggested that experienced batters like Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal should focus on batting deep into the innings. This would give power-hitters like Phil Salt and Rajat Patidar the freedom to play their natural attacking game later on.
“RCB’s challenge when batting first at Chinnaswamy is that it’s hard to gauge a good score. Typically, anything below 200 isn’t safe, but this year, the pitch has been a bit spongy and sticky, which doesn’t help the batsmen. Despite that, it’s an advantage for bowlers. In all three matches where RCB batted first at Chinnaswamy, they struggled. Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal need to bat longer to allow players like Phil Salt and Rajat Patidar to come in and play freely. It’s not about the pitch but about having the right batting approach. If RCB bats first tomorrow and the pitch remains the same, I’m confident Virat will adjust and score runs,” Kumble said on JioHotstar.
