IPL Team Preview: RCB
Team Name:- Royal Challengers Banglore
Captain:- Virat Kohli
RCB finished at 5th position in the 6th season of IPL. They managed to win 9 of their group league games,losing 7 out of their 16 games. They will face the well-settled Delhi Daredevils in their opening game on 17th April,2014. With the teams undergoing almost a complete makeover this time around, it remains to be seen how the new teams fare as a unit.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Squad for IPL 7
RCB entered the IPL 7 auction having retained 3 of their star players- Virat Kohli,Chris Gayle and AB De Villiers. Recruiting Australian fast bowler Starc will further increase their prospects for a title this year with a star studded batting line-up which any team would love to have.
Squad strength: 21
Costliest player:Yuvraj Singh (Rs 14 cr)
Amount spent: Rs 60 crores (all funds used up)
Overseas players: 8
Batsmen: 6; Bowlers: 11; All-rounders: 3; Wicketkeepers: 1
| Ab DE Villiars | Wicket Keeper | Retained |
| C Gayle | Batsman | Retained |
| V Kohli | Batsman | Retained |
| Player | Type | Price Paid |
| Yuvraj Singh | All-Rounder | ₹14,00,00,000 |
| Mitchell Starc | Bowler | ₹5,00,00,000 |
| Albie Morkel | All-Rounder | ₹2,40,00,000 |
| Varun Aaron | Bowler | ₹2,00,00,000 |
| Ashok Dinda | Bowler | ₹1,50,00,000 |
| Parthiv Patel | Wicket Keeper | ₹1,40,00,000 |
| Muttiah Muralitharan | Bowler | ₹1,00,00,000 |
| Ravi Rampaul | Bowler | ₹90,00,000 |
| Nic Maddinson | Batsman | ₹50,00,000 |
| Harshal Patel | Bowler | ₹40,00,000 |
| Vijay Zol | Batsman | ₹30,00,000 |
| Abu Nechim Ahmed | Bowler | ₹30,00,000 |
| Sachin Rana | Bowler | ₹20,00,000 |
| Shadab Jakati | Bowler | ₹20,00,000 |
| Sandeep Warrier | Bowler | ₹10,00,000 |
| Tanmay Mishra | Batsman | ₹10,00,000 |
| Yogesh Takawale | Wicket Keeper | ₹10,00,000 |
| Yuzvendra Singh Chahal | Bowler | ₹10,00,000 |
Last year’s Strategy: RCB banked largely on world class players like Kohli, De Villiers, Gayle, Dilshan, Zaheer Khan etc. last season. Only Gayle,Kohli and Vinay Kumar played all 16 games last season. Where they lacked was young local talent. Also, despite having utility all-rounders Daniel Christian,Moises Henriques and Andrew McDonald, RCB didnt use them upto their potential.
This year’s Strategy: Having Parthiv Patel in their squad can relieve Ab De Villiers of keeping duties if he wishes to be relieved. RCB also has the young Vijay Zol,the captain of the U-19 team. He will grow under Virat Kohli who himself is an U-19 world cup winning captain. Considering they will want to play Chris Gayle and AB in all of their games then they will have only 2 more overseas players to select. RCB bought Mitchell Starc, Albie Morkel, Ravi Rampaul,Muralitharan and Nic Maddinson and on any given day they can’t use all five of them, even if Gayle and De Villiers aren’t available. The RCB squad really doesn’t give much of an idea on how the players are going to be used through the tournament. However, it leaves the fans on their feet, with some major international cricketing names in their squad.
Possible Best Playing 11:
1. Chris gayle (OVERSEAS)
2. Parthiv Patel (wicketkeeper)
3. Virat Kohli (C)
4. AB de Villiers(OVERSEAS)
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. Vijay Zol
7. Starc OVERSEAS)
8. Harshal Patel
9. Muttaiah Muralitharan(OVERSEAS)
10. Ashok Dinda
11. Varun Aaron
Availability:
NO INTERNATIONAL DUTIES FOR ANY OF RCB’S PLAYERS IN BETWEEN IPL. SO,FULL STRENGTH SQUAD AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION.
