Published 11:43 IST, December 19th 2019
IPL Auction 2020: What strategy can you expect Royal Challengers Bangalore to follow?
IPL Auction 2020: RCB is one of the most exciting teams in the IPL that have always had talent in abundance but have never lived up to their fans' expectations.
- SportFit
- 3 min read
Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is one of the most exciting teams in the tournament that have always had talent in abundance and match winners galore but have never managed to live up to their supporters' expectations of winning the IPL championship title. RCB have Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal in their ranks but the results have just not come their way and RCB has not won even a single title in 12 seasons. In fact, the best RCB have performed in the IPL across 12 seasons is their runners-up finishes in 2009 and 2016. In the last edition, the Bangalore-based franchise came up with a miserable performance and finished right at the bottom. Let's look at the strategy that RCB might go ahead with at the IPL auction 2020
IPL Auction 2020: Royal Challengers Bangalore current squad
Batsmen: Virat Kohli (Captain), AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Parthiv Patel, Gurkeerat Singh Mann
Bowlers: Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi
All-rounders: Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube
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IPL Auction 2020: Royal Challengers Bangalore released players
Akshdeep Nath, Colin de Grandhomme, Dale Steyn, Heinrich Klassen, Himmat Singh, Kulwant Khejroliya, Marcus Stoinis, Milind Kumar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Prayas Ray Barman, Shimron Hetmyer, Tim Southee
IPL Auction 2020: Royal Challengers Bangalore issues
Their bowling at the top and at the death have been major areas of concern. The Bangalore-based franchise took the second-fewest wickets (14) and had the second-worst economy (8.45) in the PowerPlay overs in IPL 2019. Their death bowling had been the worst among all teams in the last edition of the IPL
Royal Challengers Bangalore: What do they require?
An overseas pacer
They need an experienced overseas pacer to bowl at the death. They have tried Nathan Coulter Nile and Tim Southee in the past but the former hardly showed up while the latter succumbed to the scourge of the Chinnaswamy. The potential candidates are Pat Cummins, Sheldon Cottrell, Mustafizur Rahman, Chris Jordan, Tom Curran, Andrew Tye or Kane Richardson. With Mike Hesson and Simon Katich being at the helm of coaching the RCB from the next season and as a result strategising, expect 1-2 top pacers from New Zealand or Australia being picked.
An overseas batsman and all-rounder
RCB have released Shimron Hetmyer and Colin de Grandhomme and they need a finisher to ease the responsibility on Kohli and De Villiers. The potential candidates are Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christian, Eoin Morgan or David Miller. Morgan has played for RCB before in the 2011 season, making him one of the favourites to return to the franchise after 9 years.
Updated 12:46 IST, December 19th 2019