Can Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) hide their loopholes in IPL 2024?

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) - Team Profile

Owners: United Spirits Limited

Captain: Faf du Plessis

Coach: Andy Flower

Previous edition: 6th

Titles: None

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) come into the tournament with high expectations every year. While they play quality cricket, RCB are still looking for their maiden trophy after 16 attempts. As they start a fresh season, experts and fans have kept their hopes high again.

Last season, RCB finished in the sixth position and didn’t qualify for the playoffs. They could win only seven of their 14 matches and attained 14 points. RCB could have qualified for the playoffs had they defeated Gujarat Titans (GT) in their final league game.

RCB did a major overhaul in their bowling department and formed a completely new bowling attack in the IPL 2024 auction. There is also a complete change in the coaching staff, as Andy Flower appointed their new head coach. Mo Bobat is also a new addition to the coaching department, and he will be the Director of Cricket.

Complete RCB Squad 2024:

Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan

RCB Team News (Injuries and replacements):

Rajat Patidar did get injured during the Test series against India, but he joined the RCB squad recently. So, his injury may not be that serious and he will probably recover in time. Tom Curran had also suffered an injury some weeks back, but there is no update on him either.

Also Read: Can Chennai Super Kings (CSK) overcome the injury and unavailability concerns in IPL 2024?

Probable RCB Playing XI for IPL 2024:

Strengths

• Royal Challengers Bangalore have depth in the batting order.

• Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli, and Cameron Green can bash the pacers, while Rajat Patidar and Glenn Maxwell are specialists against the spin, forming a formidable batting unit.

• In Mohammed Siraj, RCB have a powerplay specialist in the bowling attack. Siraj is also decent in the death overs. Yash Dayal is also a decent powerplay operator.

• Alzarri Joseph or Lockie Ferguson (whoever plays) can be a terrific enforcer in the middle overs.

Weaknesses

• RCB have a one-dimensional batting attack, with all batters in the top five being RHBs. They might only have one LHB batter in their strongest XI.

• Cameron Green might have to bat out of position, reducing his batting value.

• The finishing options aren’t as great, with Dinesh Karthik not having ample game practice at this level. Suyash Prabhudessai is talented but young and can’t be trusted to do the job consistently.

• The spin attack looks vulnerable, with Karn Sharma as their lead spinner.

• Alzarri Joseph and Lockie Ferguson have struggled with consistency, while Yash Dayal’s value often reduces significantly outside the powerplay. Hence, RCB might struggle in the death overs.

• The backups for the starting XI aren’t as promising.

RCB's IPL 2024 Fixtures/Schedule:

• CSK vs RCB - 22nd March, 8:00 PM IST

• RCB vs PBKS - 25th March, 7:30 PM IST

• RCB vs KKR - 29th March, 7:30 PM IST

• RCB vs LSG - 2nd April, 7:30 PM IST

• RR vs RCB - 6th April, 7:30 PM

RCB's IPL 2024 Season Prediction:

Despite doing a major overhaul, the RCB bowling attack looks weak and exploitable. As always, Royal Challengers Bangalore will be heavily dependent on their batting to do the heavy lifting. But they also have a few major loopholes in that department.

There is quality in the bowling attack, but consistency has been a problem for most of them. In home games, RCB can again end up conceding above-par totals. The spin attack is arguably the weakest among all the teams.

RCB have glaring issues in every department for IPL 2024. It’s hard to see them qualify for playoffs. They might have to settle with league stage exit again.

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