Flower hopes RCB's batters get back to form vs LSG

Head coach Andy Flower admitted that Royal Challengers Bengaluru's top-order batters have struggled to make an impact in IPL 2024.

Except for Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik, the rest of the batters including skipper Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green and Rajat Patidar have not been among the runs so far.

"Our top five batsmen are yet to fire. There are big scores on offer at Chinnaswamy. So, once our big batsmen start scoring runs, I think we will see some of those big scores. I have absolutely no doubt about that," Flower said on the eve of RCB's match against Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday.

During the last two matches, the pitch at Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium has offered some grip to the bowlers, particularly in the first innings.

Flower also expects to see a good pitch on Tuesday which could see a lot of runs being score.

"To be honest, I expect the pitch to be a reasonable pitch tomorrow night. We scored 184 here a couple of nights ago and that was chased down in 17 overs. So, there are big scores on offer and particularly the venue being a little smaller. The ball travels here on the field too," said Flower.

Unlike Chepauk for the Chennai Super Kings or Wankhede Stadium for Mumbai Indians, the Chinnaswamy is not precisely a happy hunting ground for RCB.

Out of 84 matches that they played at their home ground, RCB have won 40 and lost 41 games with three others ending in no results.

Flower was mindful of that stat.

"What we really need to do is to work out when we can attack and when we need to defend. This is a difficult place to defend no doubt, especially if the dew comes.

"But we don't want the toss to be a huge factor. We want to be in control of all our skills and our tactics. We've got to get that right," he added.

• IPL 2024