IPL 2019 | Royal Challengers Bangalore - SWOT Analysis

03/20/2019

It is a very rare phenomenon in sports that a team that has struggled on the field, with literally no success, has been able to be a darling to millions. But that is just what Royal Challengers Bangalore have been able to do and it has made them a favourite for the meme enthusiasts in world cricket.

From assembling the “best Test team in years” for a T20 competition in 2008 to forming the core with T20 batting superstars from around the world, Royal Challengers Bangalore have already crossed a spectrum of IPL. Last year, when their ever-so-active social media released their new tag-line, it pumped the fans up in one way, but as the season ended, the narrative simply took a U-turn and meme creators had a field day - or should we say a field year.

With two of the greatest modern-day batsmen in the form of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in the side, no one can point with certainty about what has haunted them in the league. Franchise owner United Spirits have given the highest level of freedom to the management to field the XI without any business pressure and it was never about “Let’s compete for the sake of it, we can earn money from sponsorship” like many teams in the league seem to do every year. But with the new season starting, they have yet another chance to crack the IPL code and give back something to their “12th man” who have paid some of the highest prices in the league to attend the home games at the Chinnaswamy.

Strengths

RCB have a top-order which is the envy of the many T20 teams around the world and can take down any opposition bowling attack with surgical precision. Last year between them, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers smashed a combined 1,010 runs, but the lack of enough support from other fronts weighed them down. The team desperately lacked that one more Indian batting talent, like KL Rahul was for them a couple of years ago, who could have given them the impetus on those days when the duo failed to score runs.

To cover that ground, this year, RCB shelled out five crores for Shivam Dube who not only offers the insurance of a hard-hitting batsman, but also can bowl some quality overs in the middle-overs to accompany Yuzvendra Chahal. Last year, Chahal picked up just 12 wickets and his performance started to dwindle due to the heavy workload that he was subjected to. In case the team decide to go with Washington Sundar, provided he is fit, then they can play Dube as a pure batsman, or have the freedom to go for Prayas Barman or Milind Kumar to lift the ground. With Tim Southee and Nathan Coulter-Nile, the bowling department can do well, but the presence of a lot of multiple options will help the management sleep peacefully.

Weakness

The reason 2018 was touted as the best chance for the RCB to lift trophy was that the team had enough substitutes in every department. This year, it is different. While they have some like-to-like replacements and a heavy hitter in the form of Shimron Hetmyer, there is a lot of permutations and combinations to go with that as well. Will Dube be as successful as Rahul was for RCB? Can Parthiv Patel do the same job as Quinton de Kock used to do last year? Well, your guess is as good as mine.

On the other hand, in the bowling department, Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav are erratic white-ball performers, and in case, Australia call up Nathan Coulter-Nile for the Pakistan series, it will be difficult for the Bangalore-based franchise to cover that ground. Over-reliance on the domestic Indian cricketers can be a dangerous proposition if you don’t have an experienced hand around. This is a huge problem for the RCB and finding a solution to that will take a lot of time for the team management.

Opportunities

For the first time ever, RCB are trying to form a core with domestic Indian cricketers which is an encouraging sign given the fact that the trick had been successful with Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. The then unheralded signs like Ishan Kishan, Nitish Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, and Surya Kumar Yadav became stars with their performance and positioned themselves as the next big things in Indian cricket. This year RCB acquired Shivam Dube, Akshdeep Nath, Prayas Barman, Himmat Singh, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Heinrich Klaasen, Devdutt Padikkal, and Milind Kumar and even if one or two players remain successful in having a good season, they will hold a great chance.

Threats

Of course, their bowlers. Chinnaswamy is one of the smallest grounds in the world and if Umesh Yadav bowls the red-ball length, like the way he did in the last T20I series against Australia or in the ODI series against Windies, it will put RCB under heavy pressure. Also, batting first might become difficult for them due to the same reason as how much Kohli can trust Umesh Yadav or even Coulter-Nile for that matter, remains to be seen.

Squad

Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Colin de Grandhomme, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Shivam Dube, Heinrich Klassen, Gurkeerat Singh, Himmat Singh, Prayas Ray Barman.

Sportscafe Best XI

Parthiv Patel, Moeen Ali*, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers*, Shimron Hetmyer*, Shivam Dube, Pawan Negi, Tim Southee*, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal.