Royal Challengers Bangalore team 2023: Bangalore will arrive at the IPL 2023 auction with a budget of INR 8.75 crore. They can buy up to seven cricketers, of whom at most two can be overseas.

In 2022, Bangalore had the all-rounders, the hitters, and a strong bowling attack. Despite losing some close matches, they made it to the playoffs, and even won the Eliminator before their bowling was left clueless against Jos Buttler – something that has happened to bowling attacks around the world. They have rightly retained most of their core.

Ahead of this season’s auctions, they traded Jason Behrendorff with Mumbai Indians, and released Sherfane Rutherford, Luvnith Sisodia, Chama Milind, and Aneeshwar Gautam.

Royal Challengers Bangalore team in IPL 2023

Strengths

Most things, really. There is little fault with a team where Harshal Patel bats at nine or an all-rounder often does not need to bowl. Of the four cricketers they released, three did not play in 2022, while Rutherford had two ordinary innings. Virat Kohli’s return to form – at least to some extent – may end up being crucial.

Weaknesses

Not enough backups, perhaps. There is also a concern over Dinesh Karthik – how likely is it for a batter of his age to have two consecutive golden seasons? If he fails, who is the backup who can hit in the death overs as well as keep wickets?

The other concern is the pairing of Kohli and Faf du Plessis – also not the youngest in the squad – at the top, which may prevent them from having those explosive powerplay starts, though Finn Allen (a wicketkeeper, remember) can come in handy.

Likely buys

Bangalore do not have the budget, nor do they have many slots to fill. Expect them to go for N Jagadeesan (until they run out of budget, that is). Dinesh Bana, wicketkeeper of the India Under-19 side that won the World Cup this year, can hit the ball a mile. He may end up as the next finisher. Expect them to target the likes of Priyam Garg and Shashank Singh (both released by Sunrisers Hyderabad) as well.

Royal Challengers Bangalore squad (overseas cricketers underlined)

Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Josh Hazlewood, Mohammed Siraj, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, David Willey, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Rajat Patidar, Siddarth Kaul, Karn Sharma, Suyash Prabhudessai, Akash Deep.

Royal Challengers Bangalore team 2023 purse: INR 8.75 crore. Slots remaining: Seven (two overseas)