IPL Auction 2023 : Royal Challengers Bangalore Preview

IPL-Royal-Challengers-Bangalore

Moving on with our auction preview series, today we are going to talk about the Bangalore-based franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Royal Challengers Bangalore has been one of the most entertaining teams in the tournament. They have been a part of the Indian Premier League since the first season but haven’t been able to lift the trophy even once despite having many records to their name.

They had a good season last time around where they lost in Qualifier 2 to Rajasthan Royals and were not able to move forward in the league. They have played the final of the IPL three times but haven’t been lucky even once. Let us have a closer look at their squad which will help us understand the problem behind them not being able to lift the trophy.

RCB’s current squad looks like this –
Faf Du Plessis (Captain, Overseas), Virat Kohli, Finn Allen (overseas), Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik (wk), David Willey (overseas), Glenn Maxwell (overseas), Harshal Patel, Mahipal Lomror, Shahbaz Ahmed, Suyash Prabhudessai, Wanindu Hasaranga (overseas), Akash Deep, Karn Sharma, Mohammad Siraj, Siddharth Kaul, Josh Hazelwood (overseas).

Royal Challengers Bangalore has been performing decently in the past 3-4 seasons where they have qualified for the playoffs every time but have not been able to go all the way. This time around the RCB management didn’t make many changes and retained most of their squad by releasing only 4-5 domestic players.

They have 18 players in their squad currently and can buy a maximum of 7 more players at the auction out of which 2 can be overseas. They don’t have much money left with them (INR 8.75 crores) but their squad is also complete and they need only 4-5 backups. Let’s have a look at RCB’s probable playing 11 and what gaps they need to fill.

I think Virat Kohli should open this year for the whole season starting from Game 1 along with Faf Du Plessis. Then, Rajat Patidar at 3 and Glenn Maxwell at 4. They have players who can bat at 5, but if they can get someone who can replace any of these guys, it would be great for the RCB franchise.

Dinesh Karthik will play at 6, probably the last bit of cricket in his career. Then they will go with Shahbaz Ahmed and Wanindu Hasaranga at 7 and 8 respectively, and the three fast bowlers being Mohammad Siraj, Harshal Patel, and Josh Hazelwood.

In Finn Allen, they have a fine cricketing talent who can open the innings and is an attacking player who can replace Du Plessis easily if anything happens to him. They still need to get an overseas fast bowler who can replace Josh Hazelwood if a situation arises. They need to get 1-2 quality spinners in their squad as backups.

Virat Kohli would be raring to go this time around in the IPL as his lean patch is now over and the Vintage Kohli is finally back. Having not performed up to the mark in the previous edition, he will be hungrier than ever for runs and making his team win. Mohammad Siraj, who had a bad IPL last time around is also back in solid form and can prove to be an X-factor for the RCB team in crucial matches.