IPL PREVIEW | Royal Challengers Bangalore

Where will I begin?
It is just a crime for a team like Royal Challengers Bangalore to fail with the players they have. They have performers, big-hitters, good bowlers but they either go destroy the opponent or destroy themselves. Yes, most of the times, it is just their blunders which would be the reason for their loss; starting from team selection, bowling changes to batting blunders. Will ‘Ee Sala cup Namde’ come true this year?

But we have to give it to the fans who keeps backing the team despite all their blunders.

Strengths:

1. Virat Kohli, the batsman and AB de Villiers definitely the major strength for the team.
2. S Hetmyer is one of the best buys in this auction. He was too good against India in the last series which means he can adapt to the Indian conditions well, which indeed a plus.
3. Exciting young talents like Shivam Dube, Akshdeep Nath will be raring to go and it will be great if they can do well.

Weakness:

1. The bowling has been a let down in the last season and even this year, they don’t have a bowler on whom they can rely on as all their bowling options are inconsistent.
2. If the opponent team can remove Kohli and de Villiers quickly, the team tend to collapse. This time, they will be hoping that their entire team come good both with the bat and ball.

Probable XI:
Marcus Stoinis ✈
Parthiv Patel (wk)
Virat Kohli (c)
AB de Villiers ✈
Shimron Hetmyer ✈
Shivam Dube
Washington Sundar
N Coulter Nile / C de Grandhomme ✈
Mohamed Siraj / Navdeep Saini
Umesh Yadhav
Yuzvendra Chahal