IPL 2021: SWOT Analysis of Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore has always been a very colourful team of IPL. Having been owned by Vijay Mallya initially, that’s not surprising but the band of cricket they played over the years made them a colourful unit too. After KKR if there is another team that is backed by passionate fans, it’s RCB. Unfortunately over the last 2 years, due to the ongoing pandemic, spectators have been kept out of the tournament and hence we have lost that fervour of crowd support which is such an integral part of IPL.

RCB is one of those teams which is yet to win the tournament and though reaching the finals on quite a few occasions the coveted trophy has still been out of reach. Their team composition has always let them down and their over-dependency on the top order led to many a meltdown in important matches. Will it change this year? Let’s first see how does their first XI shape up.

Here is my best XI for RCB:

Devdutt Padikkal

Virat Kohli

AB DeVilliers

Glenn Maxwell

Washington Sundar

Sachin Baby

Dan Christian

Kyle Jamieson

Yuzvendra Chahal

Nitin Saini

Md. Siraj

SWOT analysis of RCB:

Strength: Their top order has always been their strength and it’s no different this time around too. They have had some high profile sign-ups this year and one of them is Glenn Maxwell. Maxwell has always flattered to deceive when it comes to IPL and RCB will hope that it’s a break out year for him. Virat Kohli, AB Devilliers, Devdutt Padikkal and Glenn Maxwell makes an awesome top 4 and any opposition could be intimidated with such a top order. Their pace bowling resources are also very good with a lot of like-for-like replacements on the bench.

Weakness: The middle order is weak. Not only in the first XI but on the bench too. Secondly, you can’t have like-for-like replacements for the top order they have. This is a big disadvantage. The spin bowling department looks relatively weak especially with Yuzvendra Chahal not looking the Chahal of old in the last couple of months. Adam Zampa would be a better choice but that would mean sacrificing a foreign all-rounder. How they balance this out would be interesting to see once the tournament starts.

Opportunity: Devdutt Padikkal had a great debut season in 2020 and he has been in tremendous form in the domestic circuit. To be frank, I was quite surprised that he was not picked for the ODIs against England which finished recently. He would like to showcase his talent once again so that he remains on the radar of the national selectors. Washington Sundar is a genuine all-rounder and I feel he is a very good batsman who deserves a place in the top 6. He needs to have a very good IPL to cement his position in the first XI of the Indian team. Nitin Saini fell off the radar in the last few months and he needs a good IPL to get his place back in the Indian team. Kyle Jamieson has had a great start to his international career but he is yet to get an opportunity to play in the Indian subcontinent. It would be interesting to see how he goes here. With the World T20 to be played in India later this year, his performance would be closely watched by the New Zealand selectors too.

Threat: They have a top-heavy batting line up and all are aggressive players. Their middle order being weak could lead to Kohli and AB Devilliers not playing the aggressive brand of cricket which you expect them to play. Their spin bowling options are thin too and with the matches being held in India in the peak summer, it could be a problem for them. How they manage the workload of Nitin Saini and Md. Siraj would be interesting to see because India has a long summer ahead of them.

All in all, this team lacks balance. This has been a problem for RCB for many years now and unfortunately, they have not been able to plug that gap. Only due to the individual brilliance of some players this team might be able to reach the top 4 otherwise, I do not see them in the playoffs this season.

What do you think about the team composition? Will Virat Kohli be able to get back his century making form to prove me wrong?

Do write in with your comments!

Till then have a great day as I come back tomorrow with the SWOT analysis of Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Share this...

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin