Royal Challengers Bangalore who had a terrifying season last year will be hoping to finally get their hands around the glittering IPL trophy with the super-balanced squad that they possess this year. With the blazing duo of Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers, who were ably supported by Kedar Jadhav and Chris Gayle, RCB never had many issues with the batting. The lack of penetrative bowling has been the main cause of their demise.
This auction RCB went with that in mind and managed to cover the gaping weaknesses very well. The team as of now has an extremely balanced squad which is strong in every aspect of the IPL. Apart from the experienced stalwarts, they have a few fresh faces as well which will emerge as the X-factor for RCB this season.
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Washington Sundar
Rise to the international level of this boy has been nothing but spectacular. At a tender age of 17, he made his first-class debut for Tamilnadu. With Ashwin on national duties, Sundar led the spin attack for his state and gave a good account of himself.
The performance propelled him to the next level almost immediately and the reason once again was R.Ashwin. The veteran off-spinner missed out on the whole IPL season for Rising Pune Supergiants in 2017. The Pune franchise picked Sundar as a replacement and he delivered for the team. In the 2017 season, he took 8 wickets in 11 matches with an economy of only 6.16.
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Call-up at the international level seemed inevitable and Sundar soon made his T20I and ODI debut against Sri Lanka. He was selected in the Nidahas Tri-series as well and it was here that he showed his true talent. Bowling mostly in the powerplay overs, Sundar gave India a brilliant start in most of the games. Sundar was named as the player of the series for his stellar performance.
This season he will be playing alongside Yuzvendra Chahal who is known for thinking the batsman out. The duo of Chahal and Sundar is sure to make the batsmen dance if they find a pitch to their liking. This perhaps will be the hope that will take RCB to the championship.
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Sarfaraz Khan
The most shocking development from the pre-auction stage in IPL 2018 was that of Sarfaraz Khan being retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore side. The move was derided since the youngster has not made any sustainable impression in his tenure so far.
The boy who broke the ceiling with his knock of 439 runs in the school cricket was touted as the next great batsman alongside Prithvi Shaw. Sarfaraz could not match the expectations in the IPL at least. In his 18 matches in the IPL, Sarfaraz is yet to cross 50.
An injury ruled him out of the IPL 2017. The franchise was not supposed to keep him with themselves but in a pleasant development, RCB management retained him ahead of other big names. Sarfaraz has worked hard on his fitness and is raring to get back in the action.
If Sarafaraz manages to get his touch back this season, RCB will be unstoppable with so much talent at hand. The if is a big one though.
RCB Full Squad for IPL 2018:
Virat Kohli (Retained), AB de Villiers (Retained), Brendon McCullum, Tim Southee, Chris Woakes, Parthiv Patel, Umesh Yadav, Quinton de Kock, Manan Vohra, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Moeen Ali, Sarfaraz Khan (Retained), Kulwant Khejroliya, Mandeep Singh, Aniruddha Joshi, Pavan Deshpande, Yuzvendra Chahal (RTM), Aniket Choudhary, Murugan Ashwin, Pawan Negi, Colin de Grandhomme, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj
