IPL 2017: Will this be the Season for Royal Challengers Bangalore?-essentiallysports.com

What RCB fans always think of, whenever there is a start to new Season, “It’s been a long time coming, we will win this time”. Why just them, cricket viewers all across the globe will think, a team having such a heavyweight batting line up which can destroy best bowlers in the park always land up on losing the IPL. It also tells big names don’t guarantee you success. Well my dear, it’s not about just batting, your bowling also needs to click which has been missing for Bangalore for over some time now. A small loophole in the team which needs to be fixed. So, This time in IPL 2017 Auction, what RCB does is buy bowlers. They went after English bowler T Mills for a whopping sum of INR 12 Crores, after releasing Mitchell Starc from squad a day ahead of Auction. Tymal Mills impressed everyone with his bowling in India-England T20 series and of course in English summer T20. Not just Mills, Billy Stankale another seamer was added. Among Indians Aniket Chaudhary, Praveen Dubey and allrounder Pawan Negi was bagged. Now let’s look at the balance of the squad RCB have for this season.

CAPTAIN & TOP ORDER

The World No.1 T20 Batsman and Indian Captain Virat Kohli leads the Bangalore side. Last year, he scored more than 900 runs- the most by any player in any season of IPL history. He averages more than 50 in this format and its an unique thing to have. And to help him he has Chris Gayle, the Six Machine as his opener. These two on their day can easily take the game away from opponent. Chris Gayle has the record of hitting maximum centuries and sixes in IPL. He brutally destroys bowlers like no one can. He is also handful as a part time bowler.

Next one is Mr. 360, Ab Devilliers. Well what to say about this man!  Even the IPL Logo resonates from him. There is no better batsman than him who can be as raw, as destructive, as funky as him. This Top 3 is the dream of anyone especially in a T20. So, what eludes RCB then. This top order never clicks together. Yes last year they had, then they reached the final also. They will have to replicate the same performance this year to stand any chance of winning.

MIDDLE ORDER & ALL ROUNDERS

Okay, Bowlers you survived the top order. Guess what this starts from swashbuckling Aussie all rounder Shane Watson. Big hitter, more than a handy bowler, an asset as an all rounder. His addition to RCB has been a major booster. One who can smash and bowl at the death. others which are in the company who can bat well are KL Rahul and Kedar Jadhav. KL Rahul the local boy was in rich vein of form last year. He can seriously bat well and adds value to already powerful bangalore batting line up. If Rahul is not what you want then you have Jadhav. He had an excellent season for India in ODIs. Well Performed as finisher and part timer. He is like a pocket size dynamite. This is the season, the platform for him to shine.

With young guns like Sachin Baby, Sarfraz Khan, Mandeep Singh and Australian Travis Head in the squad, RCB can go for kill with the batting only. Also All rounders like Stuart Binny, Harshal Patel and recently added Pawan Negi, it strengthens the batting as well as bowling department. With this heavyweight batting stuff, look out for RCB posting high totals again this season or even chase them.

BOWLERS

Mitchell Starc was not there Last Season due to injury. This time Bangalore parted ways with him mutually. RCB had added Chris Jordan as his replacement, but he was not useful as they wanted him to be. So he was released from the squad ahead of auction. in IPL 2017 Auction they buy english bowler T Mills for a whopping $1.8mn. As told earlier, he had impressed all with his bowling in India England T20 Series. It’s a valuable addition to Kohli led team. Another speedster they have is Billy Stanlake. He had a fruitful Big Bash season with Adelaide Strikers. Others who are already in the squad are New Zealand speedster Adam Milne who couldn’t play much last year due to injury in later part of season. Avesh Khan, Aniket Chaudhary and S Arvind are also there in pace wing. The Spin Department does look impressive for Bangalore with Yuzvendra Chahal,Praveen Dubey, Samuel Badree, I Abdullah and Tabraiz Shamsi in the Ranks. On Chinnaswamy pitch they can be handy.

CONCLUSION

Royal Challengers Bangalore can be considered as devil may care attitude kind of team. It needs their bowling to perform well which will certainly help and boost the team’s performance. Batting they can take care of, with so many big names in the camp. But they don’t have to be dependable on  Kohli or  Gayle or AB as this will create problems. RCB looks like the team with almost all bases covered and go for the kill this season. They can surely finish in top 2 again this time.

SQUAD:

Virat Kohli(c), KL Rahul, AB devilliers, Chris Gayle, Shane Watson, Kedar Jadhav, Sachin Baby, Travis Head, Sarfraz Khan, Pawan Negi, Mandeep Singh, Stuart Biiny, Harshal Patel, Adam Milne, Billy Stanlake, Avesh Khan, S Arvind, Y Chahal, T Shamshi, Samuel Badree ,I Abdullah, Praveen Dubey and Aniket Chaudhary.