Royal Challengers Bangalore had the toughest job to do this auction with a minimal 18.15 crores in their purse and seem to have done nothing other than strengthening their batting. The Bangalore think tank has always been interested in a power-packed batting even after failing 11 times to clinch the title. They seem the least concerned about their bowling which is their greatest weakness.
Let us have a look at their squad and decide what impact they will have in this season of the IPL.
Openers:
While RCB always had a very impactful opening pair, this year there seems to be a twist. RCB has only one experienced opening batsman in the form of Parthiv Patel in the squad. Parthiv has not played at International level for quite a long time and one can never say how he will perform this season. This situation can be handled in only two ways.
First, promoting a hard-hitting lower order batsman, like Kolkata promoted Narine or the second and most obvious option is to let Kohli open the innings. Kohli has a tremendous record while opening has scored all the four of his T20 centuries in that position. On the other hand, if a lower order batsman is promoted, who can he be? The expected answer will be either Shimron Hetmyer or Moeen Ali but in both the cases, it will lead to a weak middle order. The third and most unlikely option will be to go with the inexperienced Devdutt Padikkal.
Middle Order:
The trademark star-studded middle order of the Royal Challengers which was their powerhouse is absent this season. With at least one batsman moving up the order to open the innings, who most likely be their skipper Virat Kohli, the whole middle order now rests on AB de Villiers. The good news is de Villiers looked in good touch in the Mzansi Super League, finishing as the 7th highest run-getter, even after being away from International cricket. They also have the Windies hard hitter Shimron Hetmyer, Aussie all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, Kiwi all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme and Englishman Moeen Ali which provides some assurance to the franchise but only time will say how they perform.
Their recent buys the Proteas keeper Heinrich Klaasen, the Indian youngster Shivam Dube and Gurkeerat Singh will shoulder the duty to score the quick runs at the death, providing some depth to the batting.
Bowlers:
The Royal Challengers lack a good spin attack. They own the services of the leggie Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar and Pawan Negi. While Chahal failed to carry his wicket-taking form into the last season, Sundar who is reputed to be an economical bowler failed to contain the batsmen. With both the front line spinners struggling, skipper Kohli was left stranded in the middle overs last season and it seems like the same will be happening this year as well.
The pace department of Bangalore has always failed to deliver. Although they start off with new ball reasonably well they fail miserably at the death every season. This season they have the experienced Tim Southee and Umesh Yadav who were impressive during the previous season. They also impressed with their respective national team and the fans will be surely hoping that they carry their form into this season. They also have highly talented Mohammad Siraj and Nathan Coulter-Nile but pressure always had the better of them. All-rounders also have not been effective with their bowling in the previous seasons and the story seem to be the same this year too. In short, although they have a set of good bowlers they always fail to deliver. Let us hope that they finally deliver and help their franchise to its maiden title.
This side is pretty unbalanced, to be honest. They lack a good set of openers and have a very unreliable middle order. In addition to their woes, they don’t have good spin attack, which is necessary to win T20 matches. When it comes to the pacers, they seem to lack a good death bowler and I was surprised as they didn’t buy a bowler to address this concern. With this squad, the twelfth season of the IPL will be like a stormy sea which RCB has to cross in a raft.
Players Signed:
Shimron Hetmyer - 4.20 crores
Gurkeerat Singh - 50 lakhs
Devdutt Padikal - 20 lakhs
Shivam Dube - 5 crores
Heinrich Klaasen - 50 lakhs
Himmat Singh - 65 lakhs
Milind Kumar - 20 lakhs
Prayas Ray Barman - 1.50 crores
Akshdeep Nath - 3.60 crores
Players Retained:
Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Moeen Ali, Colin de Grandhomme, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Nathan Coulter-Nile.
