IPL preview: Royal Challengers Bangalore

The Royal Challengers Bangalore are yet to win the Indian Premier League despite looking one of the most likely to do so on paper.

They have always possessed one of the strongest batting line-ups and despite having the bowlers to exploit the home conditions at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore’s best performance came in the 2009 and the 2011 editions when they were the losing finalists.

Adding to their disappointment will be their showing over the past three seasons when they have ended fifth, fifth and seventh respectively.

They will resume their journey this season with at least one neutral backer in their ability to go all the way; - Australian allrounder David Hussey.

Hussey might have his reasons for backing Bangalore and the likes of Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers in the same playing XI could send shivers down the spine of the opposition.

The presence of Mitchell Starc, who is coming off a World Cup player-of-the-tournament award, will add the necessary sting to their bowling but he won’t be joining the team before he is declared fully fit later in the tournament.

In his absence, captain Kohli will have Adam Milne and Sean Abbott at his disposal to choose from and both are good limited-overs bowlers in their own right. Milne has had his own fitness troubles recently but it looks like he should be ready for the start of the tournament, while Sydney Sixers allrounder Abbott will hope to add to the 25 Twenty20 wickets he has captured in his career so far.

Some of the other new faces in the team include former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik, who was picked up for a whopping AUD 2.1 million at this year’s auction, West Indies T20 captain Darren Sammy, a technically correct batsman in S Badrinath and 17-year-old child prodigy Sarfaraz Naushad Khan. 

And of course, Daniel Vettori steps into his first role as full-time coach after retirement from all forms of the game and his cool demeanour will complement Kohli’s in-your-face, on-field aggression. 

Strengths
Bangalore's batting is drool-worthy. If their linchpins all find form, there won’t be too many attacks who would enjoy bowling to this line-up, what with Gayle, Kohli, de Villiers and even the supporting cast in Karthik and Sammy capable of tearing them apart.

One might argue that those aforementioned three were a part of the squad in the previous years as well, but what they lacked was some support in the middle-order which the presence of Karthik and Sammy will provide.

Weaknesses
The lack of high-quality spinners could be a major chink in their armoury. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has the ability to contain the flow of runs, but he’s not going to pick up too many wickets. Iqbal Abdullah has a decent domestic record but the left-arm orthodox spinner could again find it tough to play the role of an attacking bowler. Jalaj Saxena is another option but, like the first two, he isn’t one of those experienced spinners oppositions will be afraid of.

What Bangalore will need is for the quicker men to throttle the run-flow or pick up early wickets and pressure the opposition to play these spinners differently. Good teams could strategise well on pitches that might not assist the seamers.

Prediction
RCB may just have the team to win the title. They had the batting firepower in previous seasons but one senses they have sorted out their bowling woes this year and could go all the way unless the pitches in the playoffs favour the spinners. 

Squad
Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Nic Maddinson, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal, Varun Aaron, Vijay Zol, Rilee Rossouw, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Yogesh Takawale, Ashoke Dinda, Harshal Patel, Manvinder Bisla, Sandeep Warrier, Dinesh Karthik, Iqbal Abdullah, Darren Sammy, Subramaniam Badrinath, Adam Milne, Sean Abbott, Jalaj Saxena, David Wiese, Shishir Bhavane, Sarfaraz Naushad Khan

Coach: Daniel Vettori
Batting and fielding coach: Trent Woodhill
Bowling coach: Allan Donald
Head of cricket operations: Brijesh Patel
Assistant coach: Bharat Arun
Physiotherapist: Evan Speechly
Masseur: Ramesh Mane
Strength & conditioning coach: Shankar Basu
Team & cricket operations: Avinash Vaidya

IPL Season Previews

• Chennai Super Kings
• Delhi Daredevils
• Kings Xi Punjab
• Kolkata Knight Riders
• Mumbai Indians
• Rajasthan Royals
• Royal Challengers Bangalore
• Sunrisers Hyderabad