There are some how are on the international radar after consistently performing
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had made some strange decisions ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction by releasing some of their prized players and decided to break the bank for some unexpected players.
Nevertheless, they have a well-balanced squad with a good mix of overseas and domestic talents. We look at the Indian players who have been extremely good in domestic cricket and prove their quality for RCB in IPL 2025.
There are very few batters better than Rajat Patidar in the Indian domestic circuit. Ever since his swashbuckling 112 not out in the IPL 2022 Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants, the right-hander’s star has been rising. Last year, he was RCB’s third-highest run scorer with 395 runs from 15 matches at a superb strike rate of 177. It was a relatively less return compared to his contributions in IPL 2023, but Patidar has lit up the domestic circuit with his performances in the 2024-25 season.
He was instrumental in Madhya Pradesh reaching their first final in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with a total of 428 runs from nine innings at a superb average of 66 and a strike rate of 186. His innings of 66 not out in 29 balls took MP from 42/3 in the seventh over to chasing down 147 within 15.4 overs without losing any more wickets.
Padikkal missed out on the 2024 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy due to international commitments but injected new life into Karnataka’s Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign as soon as he returned from India’s tour of Australia. The lefthander scored a sensational 102 in the quarterfinal against Baroda as his contribution proved to be pivotal to their thrilling five-run win.
He yet again starred in the semifinal against defending champions Haryana with an 82 that was crucial in sending Karnataka to the final of the tournament and win it for the first time in five years. The left-hander will be returning to RCB after three seasons at RR and LSG which saw his runs dry up. The 24-year-old will be hoping to reignite his IPL run-scoring with the team he had started with, and could potentially be their No.3 given the scarcity of left-handers in the top-order for them.
The Jammu and Kashmir pacer can be an asset to RCB in IPL 2025 in the middle overs as he has the ability to break up crucial partnerships in the middle overs. Despite being on the expensive side, Salam has claimed nine wickets from eight matches in IPL 2024 for Delhi Capitals, all of them coming in the middle overs and at the death.
While RCB have Bhuvneshwar Kumar to lead with the new ball and experienced spinners for the middle overs, Salam can be a good asset for them at the death. The 24-year-old had an excellent SMAT 2024 with 11 wickets from nine matches for Jammu and Kashmir at an average of 19 and an economy of 7.6.
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Reliable players are hard to come by. Having Bhuvneshwar Kumar in your team means having a guarantee card for wickets in the powerplay. The senior pacer was a key figure when Sunrisers Hyderabad won the IPL in 2016 with 23 wickets and has claimed 11 wickets or more in eight of the 11 seasons he played for them.
The Uttar Pradesh pacer is also the second highest wicket taker in IPL powerplays since 2014 with 61 wickets from a stunning economy of 6.4 even after bowling 303 overs. The 34-year-old has shown he has still enough left in the tank with 11 wickets from nine matches for UP in the 2024 SMAT, including a stunning hat-trick against Jharkhand and overall figures of 3-6 from his four overs which had a maiden.
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