RCB need their share of luck now to find lost momentum

Sometimes, a loss helps as much as a win does. That's the sentiment Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) want to channel after a heavy defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL 2025 game in Lucknow may have stalled their top-two aspirations.

For 14 overs in their chase of 232, RCB had the game by the scruff of the neck. Their batters seemed in perfect symphony. Virat Kohli, fresh off his Test retirement announcement, was flowing. Phil Salt, back after illness, was firing away. Rajat Patidar's injured-and-repaired right hand was looking mobile again. Jitesh Sharma, the stand-in captain, kept reeling one big hit after another.

RCB, who had only ever chased down 200-plus twice in 18 years, were on track to scale a peak. And then they unravelled, as they went from 173 for 3 to 179 for 7 in the space of 12 balls. A march towards the top spot turned into a swift nosedive that has sent them to No. 3, with their net run-rate taking a huge hit in the process too.

But, in the aftermath, there's more reflection than panic.

"I think sometimes losing a game is a very good sign because you can check, analyse where we are lacking," Jitesh said on the broadcast. "If you keep winning, you don't see your mistakes. You keep going with the flow. But I think the positive things are everyone is chipping in.

"I'm batting well, Rajat is batting well - Rajat has come back. Even the bowlers are bowling well. Virat is in form. But after this loss, we will get that light setback to check again, see the set-up, how to get things working again. Once we've got this setback, I think we will go forward again."

Friday's fixture was RCB's first in 20 days. Last week, they had their home fixture against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) washed away by rain. The four days after that were spent indoors, thanks to wet weather in Bengaluru. The break was a lot longer in Salt's case. Having last played on April 24, he spent two weeks on the sickbed before returning re-energised after a short trip home.

"It's a funny one," Salt said in the press conference after his 32-ball 62, his third half-century of the season. "Obviously when you're ill you sit in your bed and wonder if you're ever going to feel better again. You think about all the things you took for granted when you were healthy.

"As a group, we'd not played until tonight in three weeks or so. I don't think I've played in a month, which is a long time. More than anything else, I'm just glad I'm healthy and feeling good and playing another game of cricket."

When they last played, on May 3, RCB had completed a magnificent double over Chennai Super Kings (CSK). While the long break since then has allowed Patidar time to heal sufficiently to at least bat, it has also taken away the winning momentum they were building. Salt underlined the need to quickly get this loss out of the way.

"You don't mind not having this game in the playoffs," Salt said. "You can take it as a disappointment or you can take it for what it is. We've qualified. We've lost a game. No one likes to lose games of cricket. I hate the fact we've lost, as everyone else in an RCB shirt [does].

"[But] you'd rather have that now than you would in an Eliminator, let's say. So, we're going to get an opportunity to pick the bones out of it, have a look at things we did well and things we didn't do so well and come back. We've got one more group game and headed to the playoffs."

Despite that bit of perspective, it's fair to say RCB's journey has hit a bit of a speed bump.

Josh Hazlewood's absence owing to a shoulder niggle is no longer just a missing piece. It feels like a fault line beneath a strong foundation RCB carefully built at the auction. Without him, they lack an all-phase bowler. On Friday, against SRH, they bled 71 in the powerplay and 54 at the death.

Lungi Ngidi hasn't been able to conjure the same kind of intensity or form Hazlewood brought. On Friday, he went for 51 in his four overs. In three days, he too will leave to prepare for the World Test Championship (WTC) final. This will leave RCB's overseas pace stocks worryingly thin, though there is hope that Hazlewood will be around. Nuwan Thushara hasn't played a game yet. Blessing Muzarabani will be straight off a flight following a Test match in England for the next game.

On Friday, they had another massive injury scare. Tim David, a wrecking ball in the death overs with his big hits, limped to the crease dragging an injured hamstring and was barely able to run. He had felt a twinge while fielding and immediately went out. David's role as a finisher has been key to RCB being the best death-overs bating team this season. But this throws a big doubt over his participation in the remainder of the season.

And it comes amid more departures; Jacob Bethell is done for the season, he has national duties to take care of. Devdutt Padikkal is gone, his injury has opened up No. 3 - a crucial pillar now suddenly fragile. On Friday, Mayank Agarwal, an opener, stepped in as a stop-gap arrangement and looked like he was playing catch-up.

So, unless Hazlewood returns or a Plan B emerges fast, their promising campaign that had their fans dreaming of a maiden title runs the risk of a slow fadeaway, with resources stretched just a little too thin. Yet, Salt isn't panicking.

"Obviously the schedule has done a bit of jumping around," he said. "We've got another opportunity to go out and show ourselves and our fans what we can do before the playoffs begin [against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on May 27]. I can't speak for anyone else, a lot of times in cricket you do all the preparation, so much that goes into it. Performance on the night, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't happen.

"I can't sit here and tell you we prefer to finish one, two, three, four, five. Honestly, we've qualified for the playoffs. Once you're in you've got to play in a pretty carefree manner and do what you can to win the trophy. We're not too far ahead of ourselves at the moment with that thinking. In a few days we're playing again here in a game we want to win, and show how good we are."

Brian Bennett celebrated almost before he scored it: his second Test hundred and his country's fastest and arguably the most high-profile since Murray Goodwin's against the same opposition at the same venue 25 years ago (with apologies to Andy Flower and his exploits in India).

Bennett wasn't even born then and carved his own slice of history in Nottingham, his roar of delight coming almost at the same time as the sound of bat on ball, as he cut Gus Atkinston wide of the cordon and took off, right fist clenched, head bowed, the Zimbabwe bird facing the sun.

That emblem is a replica of the carved stone birds of Great Zimbabwe, a historic kingdom that existed between the 11th and 14th centuries. No one really knows what the birds represent but suggestions range from the crowning of a new king to the symbol of a spirit. On Friday at Trent Bridge, it symbolised renewed hope.

Despite the pummelling Zimbabwe's attack took on the opening day - and that Bennett was dismissed for a single in the second innings - to see a 21-year-old, playing in his seventh Test, score a century against a top-tier nation is a sign that something is working in Zimbabwean cricket. Bennett is young, talented and almost entirely homegrown. Almost, because he was schooled at Peterhouse, the alma mata of Gary Ballance and Stuart Carlisle, but the finishing touches were added in South Africa, at Kingswood College.

Peterhouse regularly play at a cricket festival at the Eastern Cape institution and Bennett's father Kelly, a blueberry farmer by trade, organised for his sons to spend a post-school bridging year at Kingswood. Brian, and his twin David, were there in 2022 and their young brother Sean has since followed. The school's cricket academy is one of the most elite in southern Africa and includes individual mentorships programs and coaching by professionals, including former Warriors seamer Andrew Birch. Bennett immediately impressed him.

"When he first arrived, we had a game against one of our rival schools, Pearson, and he just took them apart. He smashed 151 of 100 balls in his first game," Birch told ESPNcricinfo. "He's a very attacking player."

That much was evident from the first over at Trent Bridge. Bennett collected three boundaries and though the first two came off the inside-edge, the third was a glorious cover drive, a stroke that he returned to throughout the day and is a natural strength. But it's the other strong skill Bennett has - the ability to take on the short ball - that Birch noticed early on. "He was not scared and very good on the short ball. Anything back of the length, he is scoring on the off side, and square of the wicket. In the younger groups, often they can score on the front foot but if you can do it off the short ball, you can really get away."

It only took Bennett three more balls in this innings to show that. Atkinson's fifth delivery was short of a length and wide and Bennett seared it through deep point for a fourth boundary in 11 balls. He has six fours off 17 balls by the time Ben Curran was dismissed and then bedded in for a 65-run stand with his captain Craig Ervine. In that time, there were moments of fortune: he survived a Sam Cook inswinger that almost found leg stump, and almost nicked off against Atkinson but there was never a sense of nerves.

Then came the spinner, almost at the same time as Birch was on the line."Oh yes, he's very attacking against spin," Birch said. "He looks to take the guys on down the ground. He looks to attack the bad ball and put the others under pressure, so I'm sure he'll carry on in that way." On cue, Bennett hit Shoaib Bashir through the covers and in front of the sweeper.

His fifty came off 56 balls and Zimbabwe's boisterous fan contingent began to dance. They barely stopped for the rest of the day. Though Bennett gave them heart-in-mouth moments when he edged Cook short of second slip on 63 and then edged Stokes to Joe Root on 89 (but was dropped), he also gave them reasons to keep singing. None more than that cut he knew had sliced off a piece of a history even before he'd seen where it had gone.

Zimbabwe, by virtue of how little they play(ed - that will change with 11 Tests this year) and the irregularity of their wins, often have very little to genuinely cheer but Bennett has provided something different. In a career that is only six months old, he already has two Test tons and a five-for and an ODI hundred. If you believe Birch, there's more to come. "His work ethic is unbelievable and his drive to succeed was the most impressive thing for me," he said. "You get kids that arrive and they've got the talent and they don't really have that drive and that work ethic. He straight away had that."

He also has a mature mindset, which comes from a family love of the sport and a household immersed in the game. "He's very relaxed and chilled but he's a thinker of the game, which is really nice because sometimes in this day and age with the young kids coming through, they don't really think," Birch said. "They don't watch cricket much. That's what I find is lacking in schoolboy cricket. A lot of kids don't watch cricket much or if they do, they watch the T20s. They don't watch Tests and really get to know the game. But him and his whole family really watch cricket. It's ingrained in them. They think about cricket. They talk cricket."

And best of all, Bennett has the express backing of Zimbabwe's coach Justin Sammons, who spent time with Birch recently while his own son was playing at a schools' festival, and "we just had a conversation and he was very excited about the way he plays".

After an innings like this one, who wouldn't be?