Over-dependence on skipper Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle in the absence of a solid back-up plan has been the primary reason for Royal Challengers Bangalore's poor show in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

Despite being a team game, cricket in its essence is an individual sport and no one would agree to it more than Kohli, with his team's performance in the IPL bordering on disastrous.

His record 973 runs, with four hundreds in a single IPL edition, is not expected to be broken anytime soon. Nor will be AB de Villiers' 687 runs, which was the third highest of last season.

Cut to IPL-10, and RCB are on the verge of getting knocked out and even winning all their matches from now on may not be good enough for them to qualify for the play-offs.

There are multiple factors that could be associated with the debacle, including Kohli's assessment about “lack of intent”.

Perhaps RCB or the captain could have never imagined that the 'Three Musketeers' – Kohli, De Villiers and Gayle would all hit a rough patch at the same time. KL Rahul's shoulder surgery added to their list of woes as the batting completely fell apart.

Both Kohli and De Villiers were coming back from injuries and took time to hit straps.

Kohli (164 from five games), De Villiers (150 from 5 games) and Gayle (152 from 5 games) have had modest returns, but that can happen with any players.

Even limited overs international Kedar Jadhav, with 206 runs and a single half-century, hasn't exactly set the stage on fire.

The Chinnaswamy track, which has been a belter over the years, has been two-paced this time and that has not helped their cause either.

Players are supposed to go through a dip in form but in case of RCB, it has hit them hard as the India stars have not lived upto the expectations.

Testimony to that is the total of five half-centuries by the RCB batting line-up with two coming from Kohli and one each from Gayle, De Villiers and Jadhav.

Last year, Kohli and De Villiers had four centuries and 13 half-centuries collectively. Together they hit a whopping 75 sixes.

The other star in the line-up — Shane Watson, a retired international has managed only 61 runs in five games and leaked runs at more than 10 an over.

But the most disappointing aspect has been the trio of Indians — who have been super flops.

The two all-rounders — seamer all-rounder Stuart Binny, with 77 from 7 and Pawan Negi, a Rs 1 crore buy with 67 from seven games — failed to raise their game.

Worse Mandeep Singh, who has played 8 out of the 9 games, has totalled 73 runs with a strike-rate of 90.