RCB Team in IPL 2019: Schedule and Squad Analysis of Royal Challengers Bangalore in VIVO Indian Premier League 12

The perineal underachievers of the Indian Premier League, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are gearing up for yet another season where they hope to break their duck. Despite boasting of some of the best players in the game, RCB has failed to deliver at the big stage. With each passing season, the fans have grown impatient and Virat Kohli would love to gift the fans the title. They have played three finals in the Indian Premier League although the last two seasons have been extremely underwhelming. One thing the team guarantees is entertainment associated with its games which attracts a lot of viewership. IPL 2019 Schedule in PDF: Download VIVO Indian Premier League 12 Full Timetable With Fixtures, Matches, Team and Venue Details.

The RCB management has retained several key players like AB de Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal, Pawan Negi, Parthiv Patel, and Nathan Coulter Nile. In Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers, they have two modern-day greats who will do the bulk of scoring for the team. They have also snapped up Marcus Stoinis who is a talented all-rounder. Moeen Ali can be quite handy in tandem with Chahal on the spin-friendly pitches of India if given chance. Tim Southee and Colin De Grandhomme from New Zealand are experienced players whom RCB can bank upon to deliver.

West Indies sensation Shimron Hetmyer is the x-factor of the team whose explosive batting made RCB shell out 4.2 crores for him. His strike rate of 150 in the CPL up the order makes him a nightmare for the bowlers and Virat Kohli will need his power hitting when picked this season. The presence of popular players like Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Yuzvendra Chahal makes RCB quite a hit on social media platforms. They are also a butt of many jokes when they fail to win games which can only be a consequence of their popularity. RCB Team in IPL 2019: List of Royal Challengers Bangalore Players for Indian Premier League 12 After Auction.

Strength

Their strength no doubt is their batting with Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers, Shimron Hetmyer and Parthiv Patel all destructive batsmen in the top order. We can almost count one of them to fire on any given day which helps the team win games. The experience they have of playing in the T20 format means they rarely let the pressure build in the RCB innings which is crucial.

Weakness

Bowling is and has been their Achilles hill for quite some time now. The likes of Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee can be expensive and that would put pressure on the two spinners- Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar. They will need the Indian bowlers to be economical at the very least even if they are not picking up wickets. The lack of a big name in bowling can hurt their prospects. AB de Villiers Is Not Replacing Virat Kohli As RCB Captain for IPL 2019.

RCB IPL 2019 Schedule

The Royal Challengers Bangalore will be involved in the very first day of the season when they travel to Chennai to take on defending champions Chennai Super Kings on the 23rd of March. They play their first game in their home stadium M Chinnaswamy Stadium on 28th March against Mumbai Indians. 

RCB IPL 2019 Squad

Virat Kohli, Akshdeep Nath, Moeen Ali, Yuzvendra Chahal, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Colin De Grandhomme, AB De Villiers, Shivam Dube, Gurkeerat Man Singh, Shimron Hetmyer, Himmat Singh, Kulwant Khejroliya, Heinrich Klaasen, Milind Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Pawan Negi, Devdutt Padikkal, Parthiv Patel, Prayas Ray Barman, Navdeep Saini, Tim Southee, Marcus Stoinis, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 20, 2019 03:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).