Pakistan star Azam Khan has brutally trolled Royal Challengers Bangalore over their failure to win the IPL title so far. The Bengaluru-based outfit has been playing in the competition since 2008 but is yet to go all the way. They are one of the only three teams who are in the competition from the very […]
Royal Challengers Bangalore-RCB
Royal Challengers Bangalore represent the city of Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise was owned by Vijay Mallya, who paid US$111.6 million for it. This was the second highest bid for a team in the IPL, next only to Reliance Industries Ltd.’s bid of $111.9 million for the Mumbai Indians bangalore cricket stadium records
Royal Challengers Bangalore have qualified for three finals till date and have lost all of them (in 2009 to the Deccan Chargers, in 2011 to the Chennai Super Kings and in 2016 to the Sunrisers Hyderabad). They also ended up runners in the now-scrapped Champions League T20 once when they lost the final against the Mumbai Indians in 2011.
The early struggle:
Ahead of the inaugural season, the Bangalore-based franchise picked up some big names in their squad. Rahul Dravid was the icon player and the captain while the likes of Jacques Kallis, Anil Kumble, Praveen Kumar, Nathan Bracken and Cameron White were bought in the auction.
However, their performance was totally unexpected. Despite having some of the best players in their ranks, they could win only 4 matches in the inaugural season, losing 10 matches and finishing second from the bottom in the table.
The improvement:
Ahead of the second season, RCB bought the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Jesse Ryder and Robin Uthappa to improve their fortunes.
However, their season did not start on a promising note under new captain Kevin Pietersen. But the team’s fortunes changed when Pietersen left for national duty and Anil Kumble was named his replacement. At the end of the league stage, they had won 8 of their 14 games to make it to the last four.
In the semi-final they beat the Chennai Super Kings convincingly but ended up on the losing side in the final against Deccan Chargers.
In 2010, the Royal Challengers Bangalore finished the season in the third position and thereby booked their spot in the 2010 Champions League Twenty20. They progressed till the semifinal in the Champions League before being beaten by Chennai Super Kings.
In 2011, RCB came up with another good display but were eventually heartbroken. They made it to the final once again but ended up on the losing side as Chennai Super Kings won their second consecutive title.
The barren runs:
Royal Challengers Bangalore have been the perennial underachievers in the league so far. Despite boasting one of the strongest teams in the league, they always failed to live up to the expectations. The period from 2012 to 2014 saw the club performing poorly despite having the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in their ranks.
In 2012, they finished fifth in the table after winning 8 of the 16 games at the league stage. In the following year, they managed to win one game more but the position remained the same as they missed the top half of the standing once again.
Their performance only deepened in 2014. Ahead of the season, Virat Kohli was named the captain of the team. Before the auction, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli were retained from the previous seasons. However, the trio failed to inspire the team to a better season. The Royal Challengers finished a lowly seventh position after winning just 5 of the 14 games.
The improvement:
After three forgettable outings, the Royal Challengers finally had something to celebrate in 2015. They ended the league stage at the third position, with 7 wins from 14 matches. In the Eliminator, they defeated Rajasthan Royals before losing to Chennai Super Kings in the second Qualifier.
In 2016, they were staring down the barrel after losing 5 of their opening 7 games. However, they went on to win six of their next 7 games to finish at an unlikely second position at the end of the league stage.
In the first Qualifier, they defeated table-toppers Gujarat Lions. But their winning run came to an end in the final as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated them to win their maiden IPL title.
In 2017, Royal Challengers Bangalore had another disastrous outing. They finished at the bottom of the table after winning just 3 games during the league stage.
Home ground:
The home ground of the Royal Challengers is the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
Team logo and jersey colour:
Initially, the logo had the RC emblem in yellow on a circular red base with the black text “Royal Challengers Bangalore” in standard format surrounding circular logo.
In 2009, the yellow color was replaced by gold. The Bangalore-based outfit also uses an alternate logo for the Game for Green matches where the green plants surround the logo and the text Game for Green is placed below the logo. The logo was redesigned in 2016 with the inclusion of black as a secondary color. The lion emblem in the crest was enlarged and the shield was omitted in the new design.
In 2008, the jersey color of the team was red and golden yellow. However, the yellow color was later removed and was replaced by gold. From 2010, blue was introduced on the apparel as a tertiary color.
In 2016, black replaced the blue colour as the third colour in the two versions of the jersey – one for home matches and the other for away ones.
Season-wise performance of RCB:
Year
Indian Premier League
Champions League Twenty20
2008
League Stage
Cancelled
2009
Runners-up
League Stage
2010
Semifinalists
Semifinalists
2011
Runners-up
Runners-up
2012
League stage
DNQ
2013
League stage
DNQ
2014
League stage
DNQ
2015
Playoffs
Tournament defunct
2016
Runners-up
2017
League stage
(DNQ = Did Not Qualify , TBD = To Be Decided)
2018 auction:
The perennial underachievers of the league entered the auction with a purse of Rs 49 crore after retaining Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Sarfaraz Khan. The Bangalore-based outfit bought 21 players by spending Rs 48.85 crore. England allrounder Chris Woakes became their most expensive purchase at Rs 7.4 crore.
RCB have traditionally boasted of a formidable batting lineup and invested in bolstering their attack this time around. The secured the services of bowlers like Tim Southee, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Woakes, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj.
From the domestic circuit, they signed the highly-rated Navdeep Saini and Kulwant Khejroliya. The spin department will be led by Yuzvendra Chahal.
Current squad of Royals Challengers Bangalore:
Virat Kohli
AB de Villiers
Sarfaraz Khan
Brendon McCullum
Chris Woakes
Colin de Grandhomme
Moeen Ali
Quinton de Kock
Umesh Yadav
Yuzvendra Chahal
Manan Vohra
Kulwant Khejroliya
Aniket Choudhary
Navdeep Saini
Murugan Ashwin
Mandeep Singh
Washington Sundar
Pawan Nagi
Mohammed Siraj
Nathan Coulter-Nile
Tim Southee
Parthiv Patel
Aniruddha Joshi
Pavan Deshpande
Follow Other Teams of IPL:
Chennai Super Kings | Mumbai Indian | Kolkata Knight Riders | Rajasthan Royals | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Kings XI Punjab | Delhi Capitals
