Royal Challengers Bangalore squad: Full list of players in the RCB team for IPL 2019
For the 12th consecutive time this season, will it be RCB’s year in IPL 2019?
It’s become a running joke, hasn’t it? Royal Challengers Bangalore winning the Indian Premier League trophy was a dream that many of their ardent fans saw when the tournament began a decade ago in 2008. A club with a massive fan base, star-studded line-ups and an electric home atmosphere, it is almost criminal that the RCB still hasn’t won a single trophy as yet. Like every other year, this year too, RCB enters VIVO IPL 2019 as a strong contender for the trophy but if you’re an RCB fan, you know that you’re not supposed to expect too much because how many times have you been disappointed before? Last time the Royal Challengers entered the final was in 2016 at the back of Virat Kohli’s monumental 973 runs that season.
In 2018, RCB finished sixth at the back of a yet another disastrous season. With just six wins in 14 games, it was another unsurprisingly forgettable season for the team from Bengaluru. Although Royal Challengers Bangalore have had some of the biggest names of the sport in their ranks, they have never struck the right balance. While teams like Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders have revelled in all-round contributions, RCB often tends to bank on the big names often in the top order. Players like Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Brendon McCullum have all been responsible for carrying the team single-handedly. But is IPL 2019 going to end the jinx for RCB? Have they found the right balance? Here’s a look at the full squad for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2019:
RCB Team for IPL 2019: Players released and retained
After last year’s disappointment, RCB made some changes to the management. Daniel Vettori who was head coach was sacked along with batting and fielding coach, Trent Woodhill and bowling coach, Andrew McDonald. Gary Kirsten who is widely known as the architect behind India’s 2011 World Cup victory joins the team as head coach for IPL 2019 with Ashish Nehra joining too.
RCB chose the option of a complete overhaul at the end of last season, releasing as many as nine players including big names such as Brendon McCullum, Corey Anderson, Chris Woakes and Quinton de Kock. Mandeep Singh who was one of the three batsman last year to score more than 250 runs for RCB was then traded to Kings XI Punjab for Australia’s Marcus Stoinis. But even then RCB had a lot to do as they entered the auctions last year.
A livewire in the auctions, RCB bought talents like Shimron Hetmyer and Shivam Dubey to bolster their squad for this season. While last year, RCB’s main undoing was the inability to identify their best XI, this year the team management has their task cut out with no dearth in talent. It’s not all that rosy for RCB ahead of IPL 2019. This year too, the team are foreseeing quite a few headaches in the run up to their opener against Chennai Super Kings.
RCB Squad 2019: Players from Royal Challengers Bangalore to watch out for this season
RCB’s main motive this year will be to find that balance in the team. While the batting at the top looks strong, their achilles could be the middle-order. While Stoinis and Dubey are a solid option, they will still need to bolster their bowling unit and could see some rotation there.
Then again, there’s a consistent problem in this year’s edition with respect to the availability of the foreign players. With the World Cup taking place in England just two weeks after the IPL final, many international boards are keen on resting their players ahead of the World Cup. Even in RCB, players like Nathan Coulter-Nile, Marcus Stoinis, Moeen Ali are all integral part of their national side and could be forced to sit out for some parts of the season. Even West Indies will be looking to protect Hetmyer ahead of the World Cup forcing Bengaluru to make some unwanted changes to their team.
Royal Challengers Bangalore roster & full squad for IPL 2019: Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Colin de Grandhomme, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Shivam Dube, Heinrich Klassen, Gurkeerat Singh, Himmat Singh, Prayas Ray Barman, Mandeep Singh
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