What Royal Challengers Bangalore need to do at the 2017 IPL auction
Last year, the belligerence of Virat Kohli and AB de Villers had taken the Royal Challengers Bangalore to the finals, but it was Sunrisers Hyderabad, who prevailed in the final hurdle. So, what went wrong? Definitely, RCB lacked in the bowling front. They need to address that in this year’s auction.
How they performed last season
Powered by a top-order batting line-up that could intimidate any opposition on any given day, Royal Challengers Bangalore was touted as the frontrunners from the outset. But the lack of a proper bowling attack and an inexperienced middle-order cost them the Trophy as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated them in the final to win the title for the first-ever time.
Skipper Virat Kohli had finished the season with a colossal 973 runs, while AB de Villiers had 687 runs to his name. But, their two bowling spearheads Mitchell Starc and Samuel Badree were ruled out of the entire tournament due to injury concerns and the loss was felt dearly as Bangalore lost five of their first seven matches. They conceded more than 170 runs in each of their first nine matches which
From the half-way point on, RCB had four home matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the batsmen ruled the roost. On the batting-friendly tracks, their batsmen, especially Kohli and de Villers blazed away to reach unreal heights, leaving their bowlers with a little to do. Kohli struck as many as four centuries in the tournament to bring RCB’s dominance to the fore yet again.
In the later phase of the tournament, RCB's bowling also fell into place as English pacer Chris Jordan, Karnataka pacer Srinath Aravind, spinner Yuzvendra Chahal shone with the ball, while Shane Watson led the bowling attack effectively.
In the final, though, Sunrisers, who had the tournament's best bowling side, prevailed over the tournament's best batting side to win their maiden IPL title. But it was a great year for the RCB nonetheless.
Players Retained: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel, Mandeep Singh, Adam Milne, Sarfaraz Khan, S Aravind, Kedar Jadhav, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Samuel Badree, Travis Head, Sachin Baby, Iqbal Abdulla, KL Rahul, Avesh Khan, Tabraiz Shamsi
Players Released: Varun Aaron, Abu Nechim, David Wiese, Kane Richardson, Vikramjeet Malik, Praveen Dubey, Akshay Karnewar, Vikas Tokas, Parvez Rasool, Chris Jordan
Auction budget: INR 12.825 crore
What they need to eye at the auction: -
© GettyLike Mumbai Indians, RCB
Apart from playing for Essex and Sussex in the domestic T20 championship back home, Mills has turned out for Auckland, Brisbane Heat and Chittagong Vikings in foreign leagues, taking 63 wickets in 55 matches since his T20 debut in 2012. A left-arm seamer, his strike-rate of 17.7 and an average of 22.12 make him a handy resource.
But as at the first place, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Shane Watson, and Mitchell Starc are sure to get a go, the RCB think-tank should target some Indian bowlers on the Monday auction.
During the One-day series against England, Kohli was effluent in his praise of Ben Stokes and called him an asset to any team. Going by his words, it will perhaps not be a surprise, if RCB go all-out to have the English all-rounder in their team.
In the form of Yuzvendra Chahal, RCB has an able leg-spinner, but they lacked on the account of an Indian offie. This year's edition of the Ranji Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 have not proved great for the
In another scenario, if CA pulls Starc out of the tournament, then RCB may play Samuel Badree in the team. If that happens, RCB
Players they should target: Ben Stokes, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Tymal Mills, and Trent Boult
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