Another year brings another IPL season where the Royal Challengers Bangalore and their millions of fans dream of their maiden IPL title that has eluded them for 15 seasons, in which they have lost 3 IPL finals.
RCB reached the playoffs in the last 3 seasons but failed to reach the final. In the IPL 2023, Virat Kohli and the RCB fans will begin their quest for their first IPL trophy.
They have retained most of their players from last year’s squad, and added Reece Topley (1.90 cr) to it after trading away Jason Behrendorff to MI. Will Jacks, who was bought for 3.2 crore, has been ruled out and replaced by Michael Bracewell.
As usual, RCB boasts of some of the best T20 players in the world, however, and, as usual, they have a couple of major chinks in their armor.
Here are 2 weaknesses in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s squad for IPL 2023:
Lack of depth in the pace department
Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood is recovering from Achilles tendonitis – he has not played a single match this year, and with the WTC final and the Ashes lined up immediately after the Indian League 2023, there is a decent chance that Hazlewood might even pull out of the tournament.
Mohammed Siraj, as good as he’s been in ODIs, T20 format has been his weakest of the 3 formats, while Harshal Patel, their star seamer of the last two seasons, has found himself out of India’s T20I team after failing to impress in limited opportunities.
After Siraj and Harshal, RCB are light on the quality and experienced pace bowling depth, while the injury-prone Reece Topley will have his first experience in the IPL if Hazlewood isn’t fit to play.
Death hitting woes
If you’re thinking that Dinesh Karthik, the best finisher of IPL 2022, will replicate his performance from last season (330 runs at a strike rate of 183) this year, then you’re a big optimistic. For, Karthik has not only turned one year older, he’s closer to turning 38, but also his performances dwindled after IPL: Karthik averaged 17 with a strike rate of 136 on his comeback to Team India. Expecting Karthik to do the same amount of lifting up in the slog overs as last season will be a stretch.
RCB’s death-hitting woes only begin with Karthik; none of Shahbaz Ahmed, or Hasaranga have made headlines with their batting, while there is also a cloud of form and fitness over Glenn Maxwell.
RCB will need Virat Kohli, who now is more likely to play at number 3 than opening, to bat through and remain till the death overs.
RCB squad for IPL 2023:
Faf du Plessis (C), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammad Siraj, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Josh Hazlewood, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Suyash Prabhudesai, Karn Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, David Willey, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Rajan Kumar, Avinash Singh, Sonu Yadav, Michael Bracewell
