The last 12 months have been a weird time to be a RCB fan. We finally won it all, and then we’ve watched our team make every wrong decision possible.
The unsanctioned parade that killed 11 people. Complete silence for 3 months. Retaining Yash Dayal after his sexual assault and child endangerment charges. Threatening to leave Bangalore. Actually leaving Bangalore for two games this season. And, in a terrible conclusion, getting rewarded for it all with a record $1.78 billion sale agreement.
The title was immediately tarnished by the parade disaster and the PR-first silence. However, everything else has been eating at me too, without me realising. A couple of conversations after the WPL victory earlier this year, and before the IPL started made me realise I wasn’t alone. A few other friends also started feeling a disconnect with a club that we’d supported through all their failures for 18 years.
Which made me intrigued. Are we the outliers, or is the symptomatic of a much larger problem? So, I’m doing the only thing I can think of doing; trying to write about it.
The first step is to ask RCB fans what they think. If you’re an RCB fan, or you have any RCB fans in your life – please fill out this anonymous survey. It’ll take less than 3 minutes, but I think it’s so important to answer a basic question;
Can cricket teams get away with literal murder if they play well enough?
🏏 Cricket Roundup: Sooryavanshi’s support, Malan’s coaching hopes, & a bat shortage.
-
🏆 RR BEAT LSG | Sruthi Ravindranath on Ravindra Jadeja’s patient, match-winning 43 (29). | Aadya Sharma on the best version of Jofra Archer. | Deepu Narayanan on LSG’s home woes while playing pace. | R Kaushik on Rishabh Pant’s terrible form. |
-
🏆 IPL FEATURES | Santadeep Dey/Shayan Acharya on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s roots and how he stays grounded. |
-
🏏 THE CRICKET ROUNDUP | Andrew Miller talks to Dawid Malan about his coaching ambitions. | Mike Atherton on the bat shortage in England. | Neil Manthorp on why the SA-SL series in 1993 was one of the best ever. | Taha Hashim asks for substantive promises beyond the glitz of Jay Shah. |
-
🏏 WOMEN’S CRICKET | South Africa beat India by 9 wickets to clinch the T20 series 3-0. | Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 4 wickets to level their series 1-1. |
🗞️ Quick News: Nawaz fails drug test, SA-ENG broadcast issues, & US Cricket’s settlement.
-
Mohammad Nawaz has tested positive for a recreational drug, and lost one contract already because of it.
-
The South Africa-England series is struggling to find a UK broadcaster.
-
USA Cricket & ACE (the organisation behind the MLC and other domestic tournaments) have come to a settlement in their legal dispute.
📺 A/V: Capsey’s ENG-W ambitions, & Creamer’s ZIM return.
-
“England ambitions”
📽️ Katya Witney & Lauren Winfield-Hill talk to Alice Capsey about her wicketkeeping ambitions. [YouTube] -
“When is the right time to step away?”
🎤 Zimbabwe Cricket Podcast talk to Graeme Creamer on his return to the national side after a seven-year absence. [Apple/Spotify]
LEGEND:
-
🚨 = Shameless plug (i.e. a BoC piece!)
-
🏆 = Tournament Cricket
-
🔒 = Behind a paywall
-
📊 = In-depth statistics
-
🎤 = Podcast
-
📽️ = Video