Former India opener Aakash Chopra said that the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) batting is one of their strengths heading into IPL 2024. However, they were overly dependent on Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell in the batting department in IPL 2023. But, Cameron Green’s acquisition before the IPL 2024 auction and Rajat Patidar’s availability this year will help their batting.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “Look at their batting. You will have Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli at the start. Then comes Cameron Green followed by either Glenn Maxwell or Rajat Patidar – these five gun batters. If you feel Rajat Patidar wasn’t in form in Tests, it doesn’t matter, whoever reaches the Chinnaswamy regains his form.”
He again said, “This team also has Will Jacks among the backups. So they have a lot of options. The top five or six are as good as you can have. Faf and Kohli were very consistent last year and Maxi has also become consistent now. He is a very good player and Cameron Green is gun.”
However, Faf du Plessis (730) and Kohli (639) made a prolific opening pair for RCB in IPL 2023. Maxwell, who hit 400 runs at an amazing strike rate of 183.48 in 14 innings, was their only other player to cross the 150-run mark last season as well.
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“They have got a very decent pace-bowling department. They have Akash Deep, Lockie Ferguson, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Vijaykumar Vyshak and Yash Dayal. It’s a long list,” he observed (7:30). “Someone was saying that Topley’s availability is 50-50 but they have a strong fast-bowling gang. They do have a band of fast bowlers. So good fast bowling and excellent batting – I would say you will have to agree that these are this team’s strengths,” Chopra again shared.
Aakash Chopra also chose the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s seam bowling department as their strength as well. He said that the lack of top-quality spinners is one of the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) weaknesses this season. They let go of Wanindu Hasaranga and did
not buy any replacement overseas spinner at the auction. Karn Sharma is the only Indian spinner they have with Shahbaz Ahmed also traded out to the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH).
“The weakness is very apparent. When I start counting the bowlers, I feel – where are the spinners? Why don’t you buy spinners? Among spinners, they have taken Mayank Dagar from Hyderabad. Mayank Dagar is alright but Shahbaz Ahmed was also doing as good a job as Mayank Dagar will do,” he said. “You have Karn Sharma, who is a very good bowler, but you hesitate a little while using him. You don’t get him to bowl everywhere. I am not seeing any other big names. There are a few domestic names for sure – Rajan Kumar, Himanshu Sharma, Swapnil Singh – but are they the spinners seeing whom you will say – Wow, what a spin combination.”
Aakash Chopra also added that RCB will expect Glenn Maxwell to bowl four overs every time and claimed that they will struggle
in the tournament opener against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the spin-friendly Chepauk.
“Faf du Plessis’ form is a potential weakness. He had one good game in the SA20 league and took the team forward. He was absolutely outstanding last year. Faf du Plessis is an outstanding player, without a shadow of doubt,” he stated (9:30).However, the truth is that he has not played competitive cricket for a long time and there are huge gaps. He wasn’t playing anything before the SA20. When the gaps start becoming big, you start doubting the performance. If he doesn’t get his form, there is a problem,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
