Royal Challengers Bengaluru is probably the most popular IPL franchise. They have developed a massive fan base not only in India but all around the world. Despite being heavily prevalent, they have not won even a single title in 15 years of IPL history.
They came quite close last season as RCB team 2022 qualified for the playoffs. Then, they conquered the first eliminator and were just 2 more steps away from their first IPL trophy. Unfortunately for them, a defeat against Rajasthan Royals saw them fall short again.
Their IPL 2022 campaign was a promising one, though, and they have shown faith in their players from the last season. After retaining most of them, they will play with a similar squad this year.
Let’s see how their squad was in IPL 2022 and how it is shaping up for the upcoming season of IPL 2023.
RCB Team 2022
After the retirement of one of their all-time greats – AB de Villiers – RCB roped in several new faces during the IPL 2022 mega auction. As a result, RCB had quite a new-look squad in the previous season.
Here’s what the RCB 23-member IPL 2022 squad looked like:
Faf du Plessis (c), Finn Allen, Glenn Maxwell, Sherfane Rutherford, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Josh Hazlewood, Jason Behrendorff, Virat Kohli, Suyash Prabhudessai, Rajat Patidar, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Pate, Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Mohammed Siraj, Siddarth Kaul, Luvnith Sisodia, Akash Deep, Aneeshwar Gautam, Chama Milind
RCB Retained Players for IPL 2023
RCB has retained most of its players from the last season, showing the franchise’s confidence in them. The likes of Faf du Plessis, Finn Allen, Virat Kohli, and Rajat Patidar will add spine to RCB’s top order. Whereas Glenn Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik will be responsible for providing the finishing touch.
In the pace department, they have kept some strong bowling options up their sleeves. Josh Hazelwood, Mohammed Siraj, David Willey, and Harshal Patel will lead the pace attack. In comparison, RCB retained just two prominent spinners; Wanindu Hassaranga and Shahbaz Ahmed.
Following is the list of all the retained players:
Faf du Plessis (c), Finn Allen, Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Josh Hazlewood, Virat Kohli, Suyash Prabhudessai, Rajat Patidar, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Mohammed Siraj, Siddarth Kaul, Akash Deep
Overall, RCB has retained 18 out of 23 players from the RCB team in 2022. These 18 players include 6 overseas and 12 local players. Faf du Plessis will continue to lead them in 2023.
RCB Released Players for IPL 2023
Amongst the 10 IPL franchises, RCB released the least number of players before the auction. They have parted ways with the following 5 cricketers:
Jason Behrendorff, Aneeshwar Gautam, Chama Milind, Luvnith Sisodia, Sherfane Rutherford
The two overseas releases – Rutherford and Behrendorff – were originally bought for 1 crore INR and 75 lakh INR, respectively. Whereas, amongst the local releases, Luvnith Sisodia and Aneeshwar Gautam were priced at 20 lakh INR each. Chama Milind was paid 25 lakh INR in the previous season.
Final RCB Squad before the Auctions
RCB has got a dependable 18-member squad that covers all the aspects of the game pretty well. Here’s the complete breakdown of RCB’s team before the mini-auction:
Batsmen: Faf du Plessis, Finn Allen (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Mahipal Lomror, Suyash Prabhudessai, and Anuj Rawat (wk)
All Rounders: Wanindu Hasaranga and Shahbaz Ahmed
Bowlers: Josh Hazlewood, David Willey, Mohammad Siraj, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Siddharth Kaul, and Karn Sharma
RCB’s Predicted Playing XI
According to RCB’s current squad, their starting XI may look like this:
- Faf du Plessis (c)
- Virat Kohli
- Rajat Patidar
- Glenn Maxwell
- ???
- Dinesh Karthik (wk)
- Wanindu Hasaranga
- Shahbaz Ahmed
- Harshal Patel
- Mohammad Siraj
- Josh Hazlewood
RCB don’t have a settled option at #5, and that’s an area they would want to focus on during the auctions.
Players RCB Will Target in the Mini-Auction
As Bengaluru have retained most of their players from RCB team 2022, they have just 8.75 crore INR purse remaining for the mini-auction. It is the 2nd lowest among all the IPL franchises. Also, they have only 2 overseas slots remaining.
With such a small amount left in their purse, big names like Ben Stokes, Cameron Green, and Sam Curran are already out of their reach. So, they should focus more on the local players to fill the voids in their lineup.
RCB’s foremost need right now is to have a solid middle-order batsman whom they can slot in at #4 or #5. Also, they would love to have a variety of left-arm pacers in their camp.
Bearing all these factors in mind, RCB can target a few of the following 12 players:
- Reece Topley
- Josh Little
- Daniel Sams
- Tim Seifert
- Manish Pandey
- Daryl Mitchell
- Rassie van der Dussen
- James Neesham
- Sam Billings
- Mohammad Nabi
- Harry Brook
- Mandeep Singh
