Zaheer KhanThere is a similarity between the South African cricket team and the German football team. Both the teams have the habit of performing well in the early stages of a tournament and all of a sudden flopping towards the end that earned them the “CHOKERS” tag. IPL side Royal Challengers Bangalore is slowly following their footsteps. With some big names in their line up, they dominate the tournament but only till the beginning of the last ten days of the IPL. There after they will succumb under pressure. They have reached the finals twice losing both the times and made it to the knock out phase once. They were also knocked out of the tournament on the last day of the league round and that sums up the reason behind the side being tagged as Chokers.
This time around, the Vijay Mallya owned team which will be coached by Kiwi spinner Daniel Vettori has retained three explosive batsmen in Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, the deadly trio that can destroy any bowling attack in the world. Retaining three players meant that Royal Challengers can use the Joker card to buy back one of the player from their previous squad and will go into the auction with a total amount of 30.5 million to spend for buying players. With the 2014 IPL auctions round the corner, here is a look at what the team management may look to sign in the all important auctions.
Yuvraj Singh
Nothing is more dangerous than an in form Yuvraj Singh in a Twenty20 game. The dashing Indian batsman has the ability to go after the bowling attack right from the word go. When he is on song, no ground looks big for him. With the Chinnaswamy stadium always offers something for the batsmen with its flat wickets and short boundaries, it would be a perfect place for Yuvraj Singh to exhibit his skills to the world. Apart from a dashing batsman, Yuvraj is also a reliable left arm china man who can control the flow of runs with this bowling. With RCB skipper made it very clear in the public that his side will go all out to rope in Yuvraj, it is evident that Yuvraj is certain to join the RCB bandwagon.
Corey Anderson
Barely a couple of months ago, Corey Anderson is completely an unknown commodity playing for New Zealand in all forms of the game. But one knock on the New Year day redefined his cricketing career. The knock of 135 runs off just 52 balls that included a 36 ball century, the fastest ODI hundred by any batsman in ODI’s. Since then there was no turning back for him as he called the shots against his opposition. After West Indies, it was the turn of Indians who were at the receiving end of Anderson’s treatment. He dispatched the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground that helped his side to get an early lead in the 5 match ODI series. He was brilliant with the ball too. He picked up 10 wickets in the three matches he played in the series. Inclusion of Anderson will give RCB an extra dimension going into the IPL.
Mitchell Starc
There is no question mark over how the Bangalore’s batting line is. But the thing that is letting them time and time again is their bowling. With the team management decided to release Dale Steyn after the first three editions of IPL, they are struggling to find a replacement of Steyn’s caliber. With some decent local bowlers around, the virat Kohli led side will look to find a leader for their bowling attack. With a very few pacers available, buying Mitchell Starc will be a good move by the team management. The Australian has the ability to pick some early wickets and can also check the run rate towards the end. He will fit into RCB’s scheme of things perfectly.
Parveez Rasool
Another area of concern for RCB in the past is the presence of a good Indian spinner. They are yet to fill in the void left by Anil Kumble. They had Daniel Vettori and Muttiah Muralitharan in the last two seasons. But they were not supported well by their Indian counterparts. This time too, the leading Indian spinners are retained by their respective franchises that leave Amit Mishra and Parveez Rasool as the good Indian spinners in the auction pool. Sunrisers Hyderabad can get back Mishra using their Joker card leaving Retool as the lone Indian spinner in the list. It would be a great move if RCB settles for the Jammu and Kashmir skipper. He also brings some balance to the side as an All Rounder.
An Indian Opener
Chris Gayle might be a live wire at the top of the order for Royal Challengers Bangalore. But his opening partners keep on changing throughout the tournament. Starting from Tillakratne Dilshan to Abhinav Mukund, many batsmen tried opening the batting with the Jamaican but none of them succeeded. This time around, the auction is the right platform for the Royal Challengers outfit to rope in some reputed Indian Opening batsmen. The team will look to buy one among Unmukt Chand, Murali Vijay or KL Rahul to end their Opening woes.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to strengthen its bowling attack in the auctions and will be tempted to buy Ishwar Pandey, Shami Ahmed, Umesh Yadav or Nathan Coulter-Nile. In all likelihood, they will use their Joker cad to buy back either Zaheer Khan or Vinay Kumar.