Royal Challengers Bangalore Predicted Playing 11

 

            RCB Predicted Playing 11

RCB has been a part of the IPL since its inception in 2008, but they have yet to win the coveted trophy. The team has come close to winning the title on a few occasions, reaching the final three times but falling short each time.

However, despite this lack of success, RCB continues to pull fans, attract some of the biggest names in cricket, and remains a popular and formidable team in the IPL.

Openers

   Faf du plessis, Virat Kohli

After a very ordinary 2.5 years with the bat, Virat Kohli is finally looking like his old self with 5 international centuries in the last 6-7 months. Kohli is expected to open (His Fav position in IPL) for RCB this year.

Kohli had a horrid IPL season last year scoring just 341 runs at an average of 22.73. However, in IPL 2023, Kohli is expected to have a good season.

Along with Kohli, Skipper Faf is expected to open for RCB, Though Faf hasn't played any internationals for the last 2 years, He is in red-hot form in various leagues all over the world, Faf led Joburg Super Kings and was the 2nd leading run scorer in the SA T20 league.

 With IPL coming back to the old traditional home-away format, RCB will be playing 7 games at Chinnaswamy Stadium where the ball comes on to the bat nicely giving these two quality stroke players a good chance to have a 600+ season.

Middle Orders

  Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell

Looking at last year's trend, the No.3 spot will be decided according to the conditions and matchups.

If RCB gets a flying start, Glamorous all-rounder Glenn Maxwell will come at No.3.

If a wicket falls early, Rajat Patidar will come at No.3 to provide a solid base for Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik to finish.

Glenn Maxwell is coming from a freak injury that ruled him out for 6 months, While Rajat Patidar is coming to this season with strong performances in the domestic matches.

Finishers

 Suyash Prabhudessai, Dinesh Karthik

There are two contenders for the No.5 position. Suyash Prabhudessai has an edge over Mahipal Lomror as the former took the place of the latter in the last few matches of the IPL 2022 season. Both the players had an average domestic season.

However, for the No.6 position, RCB will not look anyone beyond Dinesh Karthik who had a terrific IPL season last year (His 2nd best in 15 IPL seasons) which eventually led to fulfilling his dream of playing the T20 world cup later last year.

Dinesh Karthik scored 330 runs at an average of 55 with an enviable strike rate of 183.33. RCB will be expecting a similar sort of performance from Dinesh Karthik.

All-Rounders

  Wanindu Hasranga, Shabaz Ahmed

The no. 7 spot will be given to Shabaz Ahmed who had a decent couple of years with RCB, He has been performing well for RCB with his left-arm spin and at times with his crucial knocks of 30-40 runs.

He has also been promoted to No.5 to get the left-right combinations in the middle for RCB.

Wanindu Hasranga will be leading the RCB spin bowling department. With 26 wickets, Hasranga was the 2nd leading wicket-taker in IPL 2022. RCB will be hoping to get a similar sort of performance from Hasranga.

Hasranga can also contribute with the bat, He has played crucial knocks for Sri Lanka and for various other T20 franchises. However, he hasn't delivered with the bat for RCB, If Hasranga could provide a few runs with the bat, he can contribute to some finishing touch with Dinesh Karthik.

Hasranga might find it a little hard to replicate his last year's performance with the ball, as half of the matches will be played on the flat Bangalore track.

Bowlers

 Harshal Patel, Josh Hazelwood & Mohd. Siraj

RCB has potent fast bowlers on the paper in the form of Hazelwood, Harshal, and Siraj.

However, all 3 come into this IPL with different scenarios.

Harshal, touted as the next big death-over specialist for India in the shorter formats to not find a place in the top 18 players in recent limited-overs tours.

Hazelwood has missed most of the international fixtures in the last 6 months due to his Achilles Tendonitis.

Siraj's stocks have multiplied more than 10 times in the last year after being just considered as a longer format bowler to the No.1 ODI bowler in the last year.

Backups

Reece Topley, who had a very good last one year will be the ideal replacement for Hazelwood if the latter struggles with his fitness. The RCB team management could also David Willey for the same spot

Finn Allen and Anuj Rawat can open the batting to replace Faf if the latter suffers any niggle for a few games. RCB can also try newbies like talented Sonu Yadav at No.5 if Prabhudessai or Lomror doesn't click.

Micheal Bracewell can play a few matches given the performances he had in the recent Ind - NZ tour

Top 3 players to watch out for

Virat Kohli

It is difficult to replicate an IPL 2016 performance from Virat Kohli at 34. However, if Virat performs to his current form, we can see 700+ seasons from Virat.

Wanindu Hasranga

Expected to provide crucial breakthroughs in the middle overs. However, Hasranga can have a challenging time at Chinnasamy.

Glenn Maxwell

After providing sub-par performances for various teams at the IPL since 2015, Maxwell finally started providing value for his money to the RCB franchise. Maxwell is expected to play attacking strokes in the middle especially targeting spinners and will be bowling 2-3 overs when lefties are around the crease.