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Will RCB win IPL 2021? Squad analysis | A look at whether RCB will finally win the IPL and achieve success in 2021 | Royal Challengers Bangalore squad analysis
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are rightly tagged as the perennial underachievers. They promise a lot with their exciting squads each year but often end up as one of the bottom four sides in the points table.
However, in the first leg of IPL 2021, they were brilliant, winning five of their first seven games. They are currently placed in third position and will resume their campaign by facing the two-time champion Kolkata Knight Riders on 20th Septemer at Abu Dhabi.
There are some new faces included in the side which has increased the balance of the team to a certain extent. Can they break the jinx and lift the trophy this time? Let’s analyse their overall squad to draw the conclusion.
Will RCB win IPL 2021? Squad Analysis
Batting:
From their squad, RCB’s batting seems their biggest strength. They have a solid core consisting of Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers and Glenn Maxwell.
Maxwell and AB de Villiers were absolutely fabulous in the first leg in India. They both played crucial roles in the success story of RCB in Chennai, especially by dominating those crucial middle overs where RCB have struggled in the past.
Further, the presence of uncapped Indian players like Sachin Baby, Mohammed Azharuddin, Suyash Prabhudessai, Rajat Patidar, KS Bharat and Pavan Deshpande definitely boosts their batting unit as these guys are very much capable of playing the supportive role in the XI.
Also, they have replaced Finn Allen with Tim David, thereby adding a hard-hitting lower middle order batsman to ease the pressure of the finishing job off ABD. Wanindu Hasaranga is also a very useful addition considering his current form and the role he plays for Sri Lanka. He can chip in with some handy contributions with the bat, so can the all-rounders like Harshal Patel, Shahbaz Ahmed, Kyle Jamieson and Dan Christian. Thus, their batting looks solid and deep this time.
Bowling:
Now let’s talk about their bowling options. RCB have a good spin trio of Wanindu Hasaranga, Yuzi Chahal and Shahbaz Ahmed. With the absence of Washington Sundar, they are devoid of a right arm off-spinner but I think Glenn Maxwell can certainly bowl some overs as the sixth bowler if required.
Considering their seam bowling options, they have Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Dushmantha Chameera and the talented George Garton. Among these bowlers, Siraj gives me a lot of confidence with his recent IPL records. He was good in both powerplay and death overs and had an outstanding overall economy of 7.35. He was comfortably the best seamer for RCB at the death, as suggested by the following graph mentioning the economy, dot percentage and balls per boundary of the 3 RCB seamers in death overs.
Interestingly, Harshal Patel bowled the greatest number of overs at the death for RCB in the first leg, with the reason being his initial success in the first three games in Chennai. But he was too predictable with his slower balls on true decks and therefore was completely ineffective in the last three games.
Navdeep Saini is not the same death bowler he once used to be and Chameera, Akash Deep and Garton are untested in the IPL. So, in my opinion, Siraj should be their main bowler in the death overs to start with and others should play the supportive role as per the situation. This might cause some over-reliance on Siraj and if he has an off day, RCB will most probably struggle at the death.
This is the only area that might hamper their chances of lifting the trophy.
RCB’s best possible 11
Skipper Virat Kohli was opening alongside Devdutt Padikkal in the first leg of IPL 2021 and I expect him to continue doing so. They will have one uncapped Indian batsman at 3 (most probably Rajat Patidar to start with) and continue with Maxwell and ABD at 4 and 5 respectively.
In my opinion, they should go with Tim David at 6 and Hasaranga at 7. Harshal, Saini, Siraj and Chahal should be their remaining four players. Alternatively, they might go with someone like Suyash Prabhudessai at 6 and Kyle Jamieson down the order, but I personally prefer the former one. So, the ideal XI for RCB in my opinion is:
Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers, Tim David, Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj
I feel this XI is really a balanced one. One thing is for sure; they will need Navdeep Saini to get into his rhythm. If Saini gives his best, then RCB are definitely the title contenders. But if he doesn’t, they will be bound to change the combination by bringing another domestic batsman in place of Tim David, with Kyle Jamieson or Dushmantha Chameera in place of Saini. But, if all the players of this XI perform up to their full potential, then RCB might end up winning the trophy this time.
Written by Debashish Sarangi. Follow Debashish on Twitter today.
