Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) always remains in the news, mostly for their star players, but they haven’t won a single IPL trophy yet. However, this franchise has finished as the runners-up for thrice. RCB was one of the busy sides in the IPL 2020 auction, which was held in Kolkata on 19th December. After that auction, here we have come with the squad analysis of RCB.
At the beginning of every IPL season, RCB attracts the cricket fans due to their star cast, especially captain Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers are serving the side for a long time. But in recent times, especially in the last three years, they were the underperformed side.
Ahead of the IPL 2020 auction, RCB released most of the overseas cricketers, except only retaining AB de Villiers and Moeen Ali, which was clearly suggesting that the franchise was desperate to build a stronger squad that can bring their maiden IPL trophy.
In the IPL 2020 auction, RCB bought eight cricketers, including fulfilling their overseas players’ slot by adding six foreign cricketers.
Here is detail purchase list of RCB in the IPL 2020 auction
| Player | Role | Base Price (INR) | Sold Price (INR) |
| Chris Morris | All-Rounder | 1,50,00,000 | 10,00,00,000 |
| Aaron Finch | Batsman | 1,00,00,000 | 4,40,00,000 |
| Kane Richardson | Bowler | 1,50,00,000 | 4,00,00,000 |
| Dale Steyn | Bowler | 2,00,00,000 | 2,00,00,000 |
| Isuru Udana | All-Rounder | 50,00,000 | 50,00,000 |
| Shahbaz Ahamad | Wicket Keeper | 20,00,000 | 20,00,000 |
| Joshua Philippe | Wicket Keeper | 20,00,000 | 20,00,000 |
| Pavan Deshpande | All-Rounder | 20,00,000 | 20,00,000 |
Bowling and fielding were the major concerns for RCB
After observing their buy list from the IPL 2020 auction, we can say that RCB team management put their major focus in the bowling and all-rounder sides. The RCB bowling line-up was one of the most expensive bowling sides in the last edition. In the bowling side, their major issue was the death-over bowling. Even they lost some matches in the last edition only due to the poor death-over bowling.
Apart from the leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, all other RCB bowlers failed to take wickets in regular matches in IPL 2019. So, the team management put their focus in the right direction during the latest auction.
The RCB team also needs to put special focus on their fielding side. They dropped many catches in the last season, and it was the most frustrating stats for the team.
Aaron Finch is a crucial addition in batting
In the last few seasons, RCB batting was overdependent on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. The addition of Aaron Finch will open more prospect in the batting side as Finch will be the good option for the opening batting. Joshua Philippe, the 22-year-old Australian domestic top-order batsman, is also a must-watch wicketkeeper-batsman whose T20 average is over 30.
Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers both are in great form. While Kohli is maintaining his superb batting form in every format, the former South African captain AB de Villiers has scored most runs in this year’s T20 cricket. Their form is the big relief for the franchise.