Probable Playing XI
- Du Plessis* ©
- Kohli
- Anuj Rawat
- Maxwell*
- Lomror/Rutherford*
- DK
- Hasaranga*
- Shahbaz Ahmed/Karn Sharma
- Harshal Patel
- Siraj/Sid Kaul
- Hazelwood*/Behrendorff*/Willey*
Strengths
- Experienced and proven opening combination in Faf and Kohli.
- Sensational captain in Faf, one of the only people in world cricket who can lead a man like Virat Kohli.
- Brilliant pace trio of Hazelwood, Harshal Patel, and Mohammad Siraj.
- Batting order is strong against spin.
Weaknesses
- No.3 and No.5 are covered by inexperienced Indian youngsters. Lomror is especially weak against pace, and might be a relatively easy target for opposition pacers.
- Spin department is quite weak, perhaps matched only by Mumbai’s plightful spin duo.
- There are no proven finishers in the lineup other than DK.
Opportunities
- Wanindu Hasaranga and Harshal Patel will have a chip on their shoulder this season. They’ve both gone for big bucks, and they would love to repay the faith RCB has shown in them.
- Mohammad Siraj can make a pressing case for the Indian limited overs team with a quality season this year.
Threats
- They don’t have any good backups for their Indian batsmen – any injury can be season-ending for the Royal Challengers.
- Hasaranga is the glue that holds this team together. An injury to him would be horrific.
Final Word
RCB has been one of those teams who always looks strong before the season, but somehow fails to live up to their potential. This time around, however, the expectations won’t be too high to begin with, because they haven’t done too well at the auction. They’ve lost some of the key members of their 2021 side, and the ones they’ve bought back in the auction haven’t consistently played the IPL before last year. In my rankings, they finish 9th. I’d be seriously surprised if this ends up being the season that RCB breaks their dry spell!