Sanjay Manjrekar asserted that Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had geniuses but couldn’t have effective results. He feels that despite having massive names, they have been unable to taste success as they fail to win most of the matches despite qualifying for the final three times.
RCB finished as runners-up in 2009,2011 and 2016. Before the start of IPL 2020, they released some of their star players like Colin de Grandhomme, Nathan Counter Nile, Shimron Hetmyer, and Tim Southee to name a few.
RCB is led by current Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who is in the form of his life and has played for RCB since the inaugural edition of IPL from 2008 and has scored the maximum runs by an Indian in IPL in 2011, 2013, 2016. He was at his best in 2016, accumulating 973 runs in 16 matches having hit four centuries averaging 81.08, thereby winning Orange Cap as well.
Sanjay Manjrekar: RCB Cannot Win Despite Having Stars
In IPL 2020, RCB has the experience of Moeen Ali, Umesh Yadav, Chris Morris, and Parthiv Patel to add to their collection. They have a strong pace bowling line up too featuring the likes of Navdeep Saini, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Siraj, Australian Kane Richardson, allrounders Shivam Dube and Chris Morris, and Sri Lankan Isuru Udana and will be led by South African pacer Dale Steyn.
“We have always talked about some players missing at the start and then you have to catch up and stuff like that. But eventually it is about how you play over a long period of time,” Sanjay Manjrekar was quoted as saying on Star Sports’ show — Cricket Connected.
‘They have had some geniuses in the team, not even great players, and despite that we haven’t quite seen the winning result.”
They are yet to win the IPL even once despite having the ranks of current Indian skipper Virat Kohli, South African AB De Villiers who can play shots all along the ground, West Indian destructive opener Chris Gayle and leading Australian pacer Mitchell Starc. They have donned RCB jerseys in the past but have been unable to give RCB success.
Sanjay Manjrekar: Spinners Hold Key For Success Of RCB In IPL 2020
In the 2020 Auction, RCB roped in Australian skipper for ODIs and T20Is Aaron Finch and will hope to change fortune at least this time in UAE. Spinners will play a crucial role in the UAE and the focus will be on the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, and Pawan Negi as they will feel the pressure to perform at pitches in Dubai, Sharjah, and Abu Dhabi.
“I am going to see the spin department if they have any game changers. I am looking at Washington Sundar, Chahal and Pawan Negi as the three spinners because those are the ones that will make the difference, what we expect in the UAE just going by the track record,” Sanjay Manjrekar added.
Yuzvendra Chahal is the most experienced amongst the RCB spinners and the Virat Kohli-led side will bank on him, to dent a hole in the opponent’s batting lineup. RCB finished at the bottom half of the points table in the previous two seasons, and they will look to make amends this time around in IPL 2020 which gets underway on September 19.