Royal Challengers Bangalore has made it to the final of the Indian Premier League on three occasions. However, they haven’t been able to go all the way in the tourney. Subsequently, the Virat Kohli-led side will like to turn the tables in the upcoming season. They were not at their best in the previous edition as they had won only six matches out of the 14 they had played. Sportzwiki brings the detailed SWOT Analysis of Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Meanwhile, the Royal Challengers Bangalore will begin their IPL campaign against defending champions Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk Stadium on 23rd March. Thus, the Men in Red will like to draw first blood in the tournament.
Here is the SWOT Analysis of Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Strength.
Royal Challengers Bangalore’s strength has always been their batting line-up. They have relied heavily on the shoulders of their batsman to do the majority of the work. However, RCB wasn’t able to come up with a collective batting effort in the previous season of the league.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli was the highest run-getter for the side in the previous season as the skipper had scored 530 runs. In fact, the talisman was the only RCB batter in the top 10 run-getters list.
Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.
Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers are the pillars of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, on which the side stands. In fact, Kohli and AB de Villiers success in the league has been proportional to the success of the franchise. Both of the talisman batsmen have taken the onus of the batting line-up and they have mostly delivered the goods for the side.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli was appointed as the skipper of the side in 2013. He had a stellar season in 2016 in which he scored 973 runs in the season. The RCB skipper has thus far scored 4948 runs in the IPL.
On the 0ther hand, AB de Villiers has amassed 3953 runs in the IPL at a staggering strike rate of 150.94. Thus, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers are going to play a key role in RCB’s success in the coming season. Kohli and AB de Villiers have been instrumental in the success of the team and RCB’s batting line-up rotates around these two players.
Weaknesses:
Over-reliance on Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers.
Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers are strengths of the RCB team. However, over-reliance on these two players is the Achilles Heel of the side. They have been hugely depending on the shoulders of these two big players. In fact, if both of them have failed to deliver the goods for the side then the whole side has collapsed like a house of cards. No other batsman has delivered the goods on a consistent basis for the Virat Kohli-led side. Consequently, the other batters will like to pull up the socks in the forthcoming edition of the league. They will need to come up with the collective batting effort if they are to go all the way in the Indian Premier League for the first time.
Weak bowling line-up:
It is a famous saying in Cricket Terminology that batsmen win you games whereas bowlers win you the tournament.
Royal Challengers Bangalore kryptonite has been their bleak bowling line-up. Their bowlers have failed to hit the right lengths in the crunch situation of the match, which has been the difference between winning and losing.
The bowlers have failed to hit the straps for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, which has added to their woes. They don’t have a gun pacer in their line-up and thus rely on the likes of Mohammed Siraj, Kulwant Khejroliya and Umesh Yadav. Subsequently, the inexperience in the bowling line-up has led to their downfall.
Consequently, the bowlers will like to come up with an improved performance to help their side in the league.
Opportunities
The young players will have the opportunities to grab their chance with both hands. The Indian Premier League is a fine platform on which the young players can display their skills. Similarly, the youngsters will like to tick the right boxes in the forthcoming league.
Shivam Dube had smashed five sixes in an over for Mumbai. Ergo, the southpaw batsman was bought for the whopping prize of INR 5 Crores. Meanwhile, Shimron Hetmyer had impressed on the tour of India. The Windies southpaw batsman is a clean striker of the ball and the left-hander will like to have a good season under the tutelage of Virat Kohli.
Furthermore, the likes of Mohammed Siraj, Kulwant Khejroliya, Washington Sundar will have a chance to prove their mettle in the league. It would be a perfect opportunity for the young boys to learn from the senior players of the team.
Threats
Moeen Ali, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Marcus Stoinis will not play in the IPL after May 1 as no England and Australia will partake in the league to prepare of the World Cup. All these three players are big names and their return to the national side will be a big loss for the franchise. Consequently, RCB must have an ideal back-up for these talisman players.
Furthermore, all the players must make sure that they remain injury free in the whole season. We have seen on many occasions when the progress of the team is hampered when there are injury woes. Thus, the RCB think tank will like to maintain that all their players are at the top of their fitness to clinch their maiden IPL title.
Here is RCB squad:
Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Heinrich Klaasen, Himmat Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Marcus Stoinis, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Milind Kumar, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Prayas Barman, Akshdeep Nath, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Tim Southee, Mohammed Siraj, Nathan Coulter-Nile.