Team Preview
The 16th Season of Indian Premier League is around the corner and fans cannot curb their excitement. You can catch our IPL 2023 Overview here. In this article, we will talk about Royal Challengers Bangalore in detail.
RCB are the only team to have made it to the Play-Offs in each of the last 3 seasons. They punched above their weight last season before falling short in Qualifier 2. Faf will lead the bunch again, as RCB faithfuls look forward to another season in hope to end the IPL trophy drought. The squad is shaping up nicely with almost everyone bar Hazlewood already linked up. The addition of Topley gives their bowling attack a much needed edge, on top of them having a great mix of all-rounders options
Last Season Standings: With 8 wins & 6 losses, they took the 4th spot on the points tally but went on to knockout 3rd placed LSG in the Eliminator
SQUAD
BATTERS: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Mahipal Lomror, Suyash Prabhudessai
ALL-ROUNDERS: Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Michael Bracewell, David Willey, Shahbaz Ahmed, Manoj Bhandage, R Sonu Yadav
BOWLERS: Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Josh Hazlewood, Karn Sharma, Akash Deep, Avinash Singh, Rajan Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Himanshu Sharma
WKs: Finn Allen, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat
Changes to the Roster from last season:
Major INs: Reece Topley, Michael Bracewell,
Major OUTs: Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff
Squad News/Changes:
- Michael Bracewell has joined the side as replacement for the injured Will Jacks
- Josh Hazlewood’s availability for the season looks highly unlikely with him on road to recovery from Achilles tendonitis
- Hasaranga will miss at least the 1st couple of games with him currently being in NZ for T20Is vs them
Key Players
Virat Kohli Batter (RHB)
Virat didn’t have the best of outings last season, crossing the 50 run mark just twice on way to 341 runs at a paltry average of 22.73. That had more to do with the poor run of form he was going through, but it didn’t took long, as he got back to his usual best, having found his T20 form back later that year starting from the Asia Cup.
Since then he has amassed 700 runs at an average of 70 across 16 innings, with 8 scores of 50 or more including a maiden T20I 100. Expect him to carry on this rich vein of form of his, on way to setting the season ablaze with yet another consistent showing
Wanindu Hasaranga All Rounder (RHB/RALB)
Hasaranga’s brilliant form last season helped RCB push the extra yards and make it through to yet another Play-Off. He finished just 1 wicket behind Chahal on the Purple Cap race: Inns- 16 | Wkts- 26 | Avg- 16 | SR- 13
With him currently being on national duty, RCB fans will have to wait for the initial few games before they see him in action, but there’s hardly any doubt whenever he arrives, he’ll be completely prepared for the challenges of this season. With RCB in action at Chinnaswamy for the 1st time in 4 years, Hasaranga will be hoping to fill in the shoes of RCB’s former leggie Chahal, replicating the same success that he had at the venue
Glenn Maxwell All Rounder (RHB/OS)
Maxwell couldn’t quite replicate the same consistency that he’d shown in 2021, with his average of 42.8 from 2021 dropping to 27.4 last season. But that had more to do with him batting with a whole lot freedom, as evident in his SR, that went from 144 in 2021 to 169 in 2022. He’ll look to bat with the same blend of aggression and maturity, with him playing a pivotal role in getting the middle order functioning
One to Watch Out for
Rajat Patidar Batter (RHB)
After going unsold in the auctions before last season, the MP batter joined the RCB squad in place of injured Luvnith Sisodia and made the most of every opportunity from there on. Rajat fell just 9 runs shy of becoming RCB’s 2nd highest run-getter last season despite batting in 9 less innings than most of the other batters. His ability to handle pressure sets him apart from other up & coming domestic batters, him scoring an outstanding century in the Eliminator, and then following it up with a half-century in the Qualifier 2 is the biggest testament of that
IPL 2022 aggregates: Inns- 7 | Runs- 333 | Avg- 56 | SR- 153
SMAT 2022/23 aggregates: Inns- 6 | Runs- 272 | Avg- 54 | SR- 179
What do you think then are RCB’s chances for this IPL Season?
