Rajat Patidar on mission to end Virat Kohli, RCB fans’ long wait: How Royal Challengers Bengaluru can fare in IPL 2025
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) raised a few eyebrows due to the names that they chose to first retain and then not really bid for in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction. The most prominent of these were Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj, two long standing core members of the side, and captain Faf du Plessis. The latter’s contribution as skipper in RCB’s post-Virat Kohli era and as an opening batter was immense enough to say that his departure has left a hole in the top order.
RCB did a decent job of filling up that hole though, landing the services of Phil Salt. But arguably the decision that has dominated the news waves in the lead up to this season of the IPL was initially the possiblity of Kohli being reappointed as captain. That didn’t happen but in Rajat Patidar, RCB have gone for a player who has been as consistent as anyone in the league in recent years and has played an integral role in some of the team’s most memorable wins in recent years. The hope, of course, would be that all that they have done would yield that first IPL title that RCB’s massive and loyal fanbase has been craving for, as have Kohli and past legends like AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle even after they left the franchise.
Strength: Big-hitters, as usual
What makes RCB one of the great paradoxes in the history of this league is that few other sides have managed to pack together the sort of Galactico-style batting lineups they have over the years. That remains pretty much the case this season. Salt’s sixes were a huge factor in KKR winning the title last season. Maxwell may have left but his Australia teammate Tim David is with RCB this year, as are proven big-hitters Liam Livingstone, Romario Shepherd and Krunal Pandya.
And then, there are the players who will be expected to make the big runs in Patidar, Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal. The latter has had a great time of it in 50-over and first class cricket of late but his T20 star has flickered on and off. Kohli may be in a bit of a rut in the longest format and didn’t really shine in the 2024 T20 World Cup, except of course, in the final when it mattered. But if he manages to do about half of what he did last year and if the rest of their big hitters fire, RCB could really be putting on a show this season.
Weakness: Form of the big-hitters and pace attack questions at the Chinnaswamy
As stated earlier, Padikkal’s star hasn’t really risen in T20s the way it was expected to when he scored 473 runs in his first season with RCB in the Covid-ridden 2020 season. He had a forgettable outing last year for LSG where injuries prevented him from playing more than seven matches and in those, he scored a shocking 38 runs.
Then comes the matter of the big-name foreign big-hitters, particularly England’s Salt and Livingstone, both of whom looked completely at sea in England’s rather forgettable tour of India and the subsequent Champions Trophy in Pakistan earlier this year. RCB have two proven leaders in their pace attack in the form of Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Whether they can make the most of the ultra-batter friendly conditions at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, only time will tell.
Prediction
Predict what RCB will do at your own peril. They seemed comprehensively beaten and bruised halfway through last season, only to go on the hottest of runs after that and reach the playoffs. If we are to judge things on paper, RCB have a side good enough to actually make it to the playoffs again.
RCB full squad: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (C), Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Liam Livingstone, Rasikh Dar, Krunal Pandya, Suyash Sharma, Jacob Bethell, Tim David, Devdutt Padikkal, Romario Shepherd, Nuwan Thushara, Lungi Ngidi, Swapnil Singh, Manoj Bhandage, Swastik Chikara, Abhinandan Singh, Mohit Rathee
