Michael Vaughan tears into Royal Challengers Bangalore's poor middle order

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has pointed out the lack of performances from Royal Challengers Bangalore's middle-order. Over the course of the ongoing IPL 2023, RCB's middle order has hardly fired. The likes of Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, and Glenn Maxwell have done the most of the scoring. The likes of Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik, etc are yet to perform with the bat.

The same was the case during the Royal Challengers' clash with Rajasthan Royals at home on April 24. After losing two wickets early, the likes of Maxwell and Du Plessis put together a wonderful recovery for the side. However, after the duo's wicket, the team was reduced to 189/9 at the end of the innings. Meanwhile, the 2005 Ashes-winning captain, Vaughan tore into RCB's middle order

“When Yuzvendra Chahal went to Rajasthan, they didn’t get their auction planning right. Clearly, they are top heavy, they’ve got these three outstanding players at the top. Then they have got DK who comes in for the last eight balls, that’s his contract,” said Vaughan while speaking to Cricbuzz.

“They would have been better off keeping Yuzi Chahal, saving the money they spent on Hasaranga and buying a number 5 or number 6, a striker. The hardest place to bat in T20 cricket is 5, 6 and 7. There are a lot of players in world cricket that can bat at 1, 2 and 3 in T20s but not many successful ones at 5,6 and 7,” he added.

RCB needs players like Jitesh Sharma, Shimron Hetmyer, etc" Michael Vaughan

On the other hand, the former England skipper added that the Bangalore-based team needs players such as Jitesh Sharma, Shimron Hetmyer, etc.

“RCB need someone like a Jitesh Sharma, someone who just goes out there and launches from ball 1, or Shimron Hetmyer or Nicholas Pooran. That style of player coming in at 5 or 6 is what RCB need. In terms of batting, that’s the purest batting line-up that you could come up with in T20 cricket,” said Vaughan.