What's a safe total for Royal Challengers' attack to defend?

RCB couldn't defend 92 off 42, and it wasn't their worst

Last year, it was MS Dhoni hunting down 105 off 48 balls. This time, chasing the same target of 206, Andre Russell smashed six after six to fly past the finish line with five balls to spare.

Each of their bowlers - including Tim Southee, who finally got a game - misfired at the death, their radars all over the place. With the exception of Nathan Coulter-Nile, who hasn't arrived in India yet, Royal Challengers Bangalore have exhausted all their major bowling options in just five games.

Russell's assault aside, consider this: with Kolkata Knight Riders needing 67 off 27, Nitish Rana skied one to backward point. He had been dropped just the ball before, and was struggling to get going late in the innings. Should Royal Challengers have put him down again, and kept Russell out for a while longer?

When will tactical drops become part of the game? And will batsmen start retiring out as a result? Those answers we don't have yet. For now, the pertinent question remains: what target is safe enough for this Royal Challengers attack to defend?

Pawan Negi puts in a shift; Will RCB stick with him?

Q: Among all bowlers who have bowled at least 100 balls since 2017 in the IPL, who holds the best average?

A: Pawan Negi (14.00)

Negi has been playing in the IPL since 2012, and made it as far as India's World T20 squad in 2016, having picked up an INR 8.5 crore deal with Delhi Daredevils along the way. From then on, things went downhill for the then 23 year-old. His price tag weighed his performances down, and after just a season, it fell steeply down to INR 1 crore, when Royal Challengers picked him up for the 2017 season.

In a season where they finished bottom of the table, Negi was among their rare bright spots, picking up 16 wickets, going at just 6.12 an over. Next season, he found himself out of favour, playing only twice, bowling just four overs, despite being fit throughout the tournament.

Once again, in a game that will be remembered for Russell's manic hitting towards the end, Negi delivered an exceptional middle-overs spell, picking up the wickets of Robin Uthappa and Chris Lynn. Returns of 2 for 21 in three valuable overs. Will Royal Challengers stick with him or will he be another casualty in their selection roulette?

KKR spinners do the job at the death, once again

Kolkata Knight Riders' spinners had these combined figures on Friday: 14 overs, 115 runs, 3 wickets.

On their own, those are reasonable returns in an average T20 game. And when Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers are going hammer and tongs in Bengaluru, those are outstanding returns.

With their pace bowlers all wicketless and knocked out of the park - they went for 0 for 89 in just six overs - Dinesh Karthik turned to the spinners at the death, once again. Kuldeep Yadav and Sunil Narine removed Kohli and de Villiers in successive overs, potentially knocking a few off that final Royal Challengers Bangalore score of 205. They could well have had both much earlier in their innings, if only their fielders had held on to catches.

Knight Riders are a team who have been trendsetters throughout this decade's IPLs, and bowling spin in the final few overs is a trend they have owned over the years, to a great degree of success. Knight Riders' spinners have bowled nearly double the number of balls in the last four overs than any other team, conceding a barely believable 8.64 runs an over. Since 2017, through higher-scoring seasons, that rate has gone up to a middling 10.64, but they still toss the ball to their spinners more often than anyone else.

On a high-scoring ground, against two of the world's best, Narine and Co delivered yet again.