Three-time IPL finalists Royal Challengers Bangalore have featured some of the biggest T20 names ever since the franchise's inception in the cash-rich league. But they have always flattered to deceive on the big stage.
In the 2009 final, the Bengaluru team, led by legendary legspinner Anil Kumble, fell short of their maiden title by six runs against Deccan Chargers. In the 2011 and 2016 finals, the team, under the captaincy of Daniel Vettori and Virat Kohli, was outplayed by Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Led by India skipper Virat Kohli, the team has proven performers like AB de Villiers, Heinrich Klassen, Moeen Ali, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Parthiv Patel, Colin de Grandhomme and Tim Southee. They also have some promising youngsters like Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis and Kulwant Khejroliya.
Squad:
Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim
Southee, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Gurkeerat Singh, Heinrich Klassen, Devdutt Padikkal, Shivam Dube, Akshdeep Nath,
Himmat Singh, Milind Kumar and Prayas Ray Barman.
Support Staff:
Gary Kirsten (Coach and Mentor)
Ashish Nehra (Bowling Coach)
Avinash Vaidya (Team and Cricket Operations Manager)
Evan Speechly (Physiotherapist)
Arun Kanade (Massage Therapist)
Ramesh Mane (Acupressure Masseur)
Strength:
The main strength of the men in red and black lies in their batting. While Kohli and De Villiers give the team much-needed experience in the middle-order, Parthiv Patel and Heinrich Klassen will be entrusted with providing the early fireworks during the powerplays.
Moeen Ali, Colin de Grandhomme and Marcus Stoinis will form the team's all-rounder core. Apart from hitting some lusty blows with the bat in crunch moments, Moeen and Grandhomme can also provide breakthroughs with the ball in the middle overs. Stoinis' previous exploits with Kings XI Punjab gives skipper Kohli the luxury of playing with five bowling options, without compromising his side's batting depth.
Shimron Hetmyer will be the dark horse. His natural six-hitting ability can come good at the batting-friendly Chinnaswamy Stadium, which also coincidentally has shorter boundaries.
Weakness:
Lack of Indian batters with IPL experience. While Milind Kumar, Himmat Singh and Gurkeerat Singh have decent domestic T20 averages, the franchise will be heavily dependent on Kohli and DeVilliers.
While Tim Southee and Nathan Coulter-Nile will be the lead pacers for the Bengaluru franchise, Umesh Yadav's poor T20 record will be a headache for Kohli and Co. The fact that the Vidarbha pacer couldn't defend 13 runs against the Aussies during the Vizag T20 a few weeks back may lead the team to look at other options like Mohammed Siraj, Kulwant Khejroliya and Navdeep Saini as back-ups. While Siraj has only played four international matches, the Delhi duo of Khejroliya and Saini are yet to make a mark in the IPL.
The franchise decided to sell their Proteas wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock to Mumbai Indians before the auctions. While Parthiv Patel will take over the gloves behind the stumps, he will also open the innings. Despite the Gujarat batter having decent T20 stats (3872 runs in 183 innings with a strike rate of 122.33), the Bengaluru franchise will miss De Kock's ability to play longer knocks and hold the innings together.
Prediction:
Despite having a power-packed team, RCB ended at the bottom of the points table in the last two editions. This time too, lack of good Indian batting talents, along with a weak bowling attack may prove costly for them. Although not primed for a knock out slot, a few match-winning efforts from Kohli and De Villiers can change the scenario for the men in red and black.
Best XI:
Parthiv Patel
Shimron Hetmyer
Virat Kohli (C)
AB de Villiers
Moeen Ali
Gurkeerat Singh
Washington Sundar
Yuzvendra Chahal
Umesh Yadav
Tim Southee
Mohammed Siraj
History:
2008: 7th
2009: Runners-up
2010: 4th
2011: Runners-up
2012: 5th
2013: 5th
2014: 7th
2015: 3rd
2016: Runners-up
2017: 8th
2018: 6th