IPL 2018: Royal Challengers Bangalore must translate promise to performance in upcoming 11th edition

If one is looking for a team that typifies the dazzle of the Indian Premier League (IPL), there’s little to look beyond Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). A superstar batsman at the helm, and a team that despite its enviable riches, flatters to deceive, RCB would make for an engaging movie script. Except, a title-less decade at IPL is what stares at them. [caption id=“attachment_3361690” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers would hope to add an IPL trophy to their cabinet . Sportzpics[/caption] This season though could be different, and that’s a dangerous thought to harbour, for RCB have been strange bedfellows with inconsistency. Picture this: a second-from-last finish in the inaugural season followed by second-place finish the very next season, second and third-place in next two editions before slumping to fifth in next two, another seventh-place finish in 2014 followed by a spot in top three in next two years before ending 2017 at the bottom of the table to mark their worst IPL. This, for a team that has had the services of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle, is outrageously underwhelming. While the presence of superstars has made RCB’s failures all the more glaring, it has also lent them a strong fan base that extends beyond the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Their attacking style of play has made them an entertaining outfit to watch, and their home ground’s famously flat pitch and small boundaries have only furthered their cause. With Gayle gone and Mitchell Starc missing — the Australian, snapped by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), will miss this season’s IPL to injury — the onus would be on Kohli and de Villiers to fire. Both these batsmen were late entrants to the previous edition due to injuries, and both will enter the 11th installment of the cash-rich league in a rich vein of form. While Kohli shone in the Test series against the Proteas and the limited-overs’ leg of the South Africa tour, de Villiers followed his productive returns in Tests against India with a successful home series against Australia. But for the unfortunate incidents that have marred the South Africa-Australia series, we would have heard a lot more about the prolific right-hander. The absence of Gayle might have left the RCB faithful gasping, but the presence of Brendon McCullum and Quinton de Kock means the team is not short of firepower. With both of them, and Parthiv Patel, capable to keep wickets, Kohli has the problem of plenty. He also has the temptation of playing both McCullum and de Kock in his starting XI at the top of the order. RCB’s spin attack appears quite balanced, and Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar are likely to start in most of the matches. Chahal’s rise, in particular, has its origins in his middle-overs spells for RCB, where his propensity to fearlessly toss the ball stood out. Over the past year, Chahal has been India’s go-to spinner in the shorter formats, and has been one-half of the spin-twins that has kept the seasoned duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja out of India’s limited-overs’ sides. Sundar, on the contrary, is a more conventional T20 practitioner. He uses his height to hit the fuller length with a flat trajectory and is a difficult bowler to hit. Not known to spin the ball big, the 18-year-old does possess the happy knack of picking important wickets, as his Man of the Series performance in the Nidahas Trophy suggests. The team also boasts of a handy clutch of all-rounders, with Chris Woakes, Colin de Grandhomme, Corey Anderson, Pawan Negi and Moeen Ali ready to provide balance and flexibility. The only grey area for RCB is their pace bowling arsenal. In the absence of Mitchell Starc, they look a bit short of depth. It presents Umesh Yadav and Tim Southee with a chance to mentor the likes of Navdeep Saini, Aniket Choudhary, Mohammed Siraj, and Kulwant Khejroliya. Coached by Gary Kirsten, Daniel Vettori and Ashish Nehra, RCB does look good to finally turn the corner. An IPL trophy is what is missing from RCB’s otherwise entertaining script, and Virat Kohli would look to set the record straight this season. Squad: Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers, Brendon McCullum, Quinton de Kock, Parthiv Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Manan Vohra, Pavan Deshpande, Corey Anderson, Chris Woakes, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Anirudha Joshi, Pawan Negi, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Navdeep Saini, Aniket Choudhary, Mohammed Siraj, Kulwant Khejroliya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Murugan Ashwin.