Former Indian opener Kris Srikkanth slammed Romario Shepherd after Royal Challengers Bengaluru registered a two-wicket win against Mumbai Indians at Raipur on Sunday. Srikkanth said the West Indies all-rounder is a waste with both bat and ball.

The hard hitter could only manage four runs off 11 balls in the run chase of 167. However, Shepherd returned with decent figures of 1-18 in the three overs he bowled. 

Shepherd has scalped six wickets in 11 matches of IPL 2026 at an average of 39.66 and an economy rate of 11.90.

Kris Srikkanth said on his YouTube Channel, “Everyone hypes Romario Shepherd as this big-hitter and gun cricketer. He is a waste with the ball and bat. I am not sure why RCB are playing him. The other RCB batters got brilliant deliveries. But I will just say good luck and all the very best to RCB if they keep picking Romario Shepherd. RCB are a championship team, but they’ll struggle if they continue picking Shepherd because he played one good knock long back.”

The 1983 World Cup-winning player said RCB are still vulnerable with the bat.

“RCB are still susceptible with the bat. Their batting cost them the last match, and this match also, they almost lost chasing 167. This match, they went too much into their shell, thinking they are too aggressive. This pitch isn’t great for batting, so the next match against KKR will also test them against Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy.”

Srikkanth heaped praise on Krunal Pandya, who scored a match-winning knock of 73 runs off 46 balls with the help of four fours and five maximums.

“He (Krunal) is a maverick cricketer. Be it batting, bowling and fielding, he gives it 200% commitment. It was just a one-man show by him. He played some excellent shots and hit timely sixes,” said Srikkanth (via the aforementioned source).

Royal Challengers Bengaluru will next take on Kolkata Knight Riders at Raipur on Wednesday.