Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) produced a brilliant bowling performance against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium last night. At the beginning of the match, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar ravaged DC’s batting line-up. Both of them together took 7 wickets, 4 for Hazlewood and 3 for Kumar.
In the first innings, Delhi Capitals were down by 6 wickets, with only 9 runs on the scoreboard. From there he could only score 75 runs against all his ten batsmen. Despite the crushing victory in the away match, former Indian cricketer Kris Srikkanth has pointed towards a particular bowler, who he considers to be the weak link of the team.
Former Team India captain Romario is not happy with Shepherd’s performance
Kris Srikkanth discusses Royal Challengers Bangalore’s fast bowling all-rounder Romario Shepherd. The West Indies international played a key role behind the team’s first trophy-winning season in 2025. He played many important roles with the bat and delivered some much-needed spells with the ball for RCB in the IPL 2025 season.
Ahead of the ongoing IPL 2026 campaign, RCB have retained most of their foreign talents, including Romario Shepherd. But, he has been struggling since the start of the 2026 season. When the fast bowling pair of Hazlewood and Kumar and spinner Suyash Sharma bowled brilliantly against Delhi Capitals, Shepherd proved costly. The medium fast bowler gave away 21 runs in his 2 over spell without taking a single wicket. Overall, he has struggled with the ball in the current IPL season, averaging 58 and an economy of 14.50.
Srikanth considers Shepherd as RCB’s lucky charm
Srikkanth said in his YouTube channel, “They have an amazing bowling side. They just have a weak link in Romario Shepherd. I don’t know why RCB are really playing him. But I think he is playing because he is a lucky charm for RCB. He won last year and is winning with them this year. So he is there just for the luck factor. Because otherwise, he may not play in the 11 at all.”
Furthermore, the former batsman praised Bhuvneshwar Kumar for his brilliant spell in the league. Kumar’s bowling figures against Delhi Capitals were 3/5 in three overs.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar deserves to play for Team India again
Srikkanth said that Kumar has been bowling consistently well after the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-finals and deserves to be included in the national cricket team.
“He was moving incredibly well on both sides. Even someone like Stubbs was a stranger against him. In that one match in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final, Bhuvneshwar Kumar didn’t bowl well. He has bowled well in every match since then,” the 1983 World Cup winner said.
“He has one of the best track records in the IPL. I can’t believe he is not in the Indian team. He has won you many matches in his first spell. Bhuvneshwar Kumar displayed the art of seam and swing bowling,” he said.
Read more: “Don’t talk too much”: Kris Srikkanth criticizes Hemang Badani for mocking Stephen Fleming