IPL team profile: Can Royal Challengers Bangalore end their jinx this time?

Two of the biggest dichotomies of Royal Challengers Bangalore is: they are one of the most passionately followed franchises in IPL and have the league’s alltime high rungetter Virat Kolhi in their ranks, but are yet to lay their hands on the trophy. The ‘Play Bold’ men will be hoping to correct this anomaly this year again, though the X-factor seems to be somehow missing in the combination.

The stories of RCB’s heartbreaks are too well documented, the biggest of them coming in 2016 season – which saw Kohli setting a record of maximum runs in a season (973) and the team losing the final to Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight runs. In the last five seasons, they have made four play-offs only to fall short each time.

This year, they have got a new and young captain in Rajat Patidar – a calculated gamble as Kohli was not ready to take up the responsibility again and Faf du Plessis, 40, being released. They have acquired a few extremely useful performers in the auction though in the explosive England opener Phil Salt, pace bowlers Josh Hazlewood, Lungi Ngidi and Nuwan Thusara – not to speak of giving a lifeline to the IPL veteran Bhuvaneswar Kumar.

The Salt-Kohli combination at the top of the order looks well equipped to milk the opposition in the powerplay, though the same cannot be said about the top order of  Patidar, Liam Livingstone, and Tim David and Devdutt Padikkal. A conspicuous absentee there is Glenn Maxwell who was released ahead of the auction but truth be told, the Australian had repeatedly failed to deliver in the crunch moments of RCB in recent past.

 The return of Hazlewood, who missed out on the ICC Champions Trophy with injury, Ngidi, Thusara and ‘Bhuvi,’ who had a decent domestic season, gives RCB a good mix in the pace department. The same cannot be said about the spin options which sees Krunal Pandya as the lead spinner with his tight left-arm spin and young leggie Suyash Mishra, which implies that the squad lacks a heavyweight spin bowler to make use of the slow and low surfaces.

The team management seems to have paid a premium for handy allrounders: with former international Krunal being able to contribute significantly in the lower order. West Indian Romario Shepherd provides an option as a seam bowling all-rounder, which can only add to the team’s balance and versatility. Shepherd’s ability to contribute with both bat and ball should make him an important part of the line-up.

The area where RCB faces a significant vulnerability is in the form of limited back-up options. Should key players suffer injuries in such a long season amid energy-sapping heat, it could severely derail their campaign. The depth of the squad often proves to be a critical factor in sustaining performance levels throughout a demanding season.

Suuming it up, expectations of this RCB squad seem to be modest after fruitless seasons when they boasted off galacticos in their batting line-up in the past. And it can only help the new captain spring some surprises.

Full squad

Rajat Patidar (captain), Virat Kohli, Yash Dayal, Liam Livingstone, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Dar, Suyash Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Nuwan Thushara, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara, Lungi Ngidi, Abhinandan Singh, Mohit Rathee.