Despite boasting of some top internationals in their line-up over the years, the Royal Challengers haven’t been able to lift the title in any of their 12 attempts. They reached the finals thrice: in 2009, 2011 and 2016, and looked good to win it on the first and the most recent of those occasions, before an untimely batting collapse saw them fall short.
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With the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League all set to get underway later this month, here’s the Royal Challengers Bangalore team preview, as we take a look at how the star-studded franchise shapes up ahead of the tournament.
They have endured a miserable struggle in the last three editions, finishing bottom in 2017 and 2019 and sixth in 2018. That, however, doesn’t take away from their reputation of being one of the most feared sides in the competition, as they have arguably the most dynamic batting stars in the competition’s history in Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. Add to that Aaron Finch, the Australian T20I captain, who is the only player to have two scores of 150-plus in T20I history and RCB yet again have some of the devastating batsmen in the competition at their disposal.
While Moeen Ali remains a key player, considering his all-round skills, the abilities of Shivam Dube, who has shown sparks of brilliance in his short international career so far, can’t be overlooked either.
Royal Challengers Bangalore squad list for IPL 2020
Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Gurkeerat Singh, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Parthiv Patel, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Aaron Finch, Chris Morris, Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana, Joshua Philippe, Kane Richardson, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahamad.
Key players
Virat Kohli: It goes without saying that RCB’s success rests heavily on their skipper’s shoulders. His biggest challenge, however, would be to excel as a captain and lead his team to a title win, something that has eluded him for quite some time now.
Chris Morris: Morris was bought for a whopping INR 10 crore at the auctions, the most expensive buy for the Royal Challengers. That he batted at the No.5 position, while donning the role of the lead strike bowler and a specialist at the death for Sydney Thunder in BBL 2019-20, only reinstates his value as a T20 player.
He has a decent amount of experience in the competition, having played for three teams previously, and it won’t be a surprise if he plays ahead of his fellow countryman Steyn in the XI, given his ball-striking abilities at the back end.
IPL 2020 Betting odds
7/1
Our prediction
Bottom four: Royal Challengers Bangalore once again are studded with some of the top overseas internationals, but that aspect once again flatters to deceive. After all, only four of them can take the field on any given day. Kohli would want his fellow local to step up, if his side are to go the distance in IPL 2020.
