RCB Team Preview - Will RCB finally win IPL?

Royal Challengers Bangalore is one of those teams that are always in the spotlight in the Indian Premier League. Even though they have never won a single IPL title in the last 17 years, Bangalore has always come out as one of the strongest combinations of players.

In the past, RCB has signed some of the best players from international cricket. However, they have still failed to lift a single trophy. Over the past 17 years, Virat Kohli has been their star player and has come out as the leading run-scorer in the league on multiple occasions.

During the previous edition, Royal Challengers Bangalore finished at the 4th spot in the league stage with 7 wins and 7 losses. They qualified for the playoffs but were eliminated with a loss against Rajasthan Royals. Their hopes of winning the title again went in vain.

For IPL 2025, RCB team management has put in some work. They retained their three key players Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Yash Dayal. It was a shock to see the management letting go of Mohammad Siraj, who has been the team's top bowler in the past.

During the IPL 2025 mega auctions, Josh Hazlewood came out as the costliest player for the team with a price tag of INR 12.50 Crore. Phil Salt was the 2nd costliest player for the team with a price of INR 11.50 Crore.

Liam Livingstone (Rs. 8.75 crore), Jitesh Sharma (Rs. 11 crore), Rasikh Dar (Rs. 6 crore), Suyash Sharma (Rs. 2.60 crore), Krunal Pandya (Rs. 5.75 crore), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Rs. 10.75 crore), and Tim David (Rs. 3 crore) were the other key purchases for Royal Challengers Bangalore during the auction.

One big change that Royal Challengers Bangalore has done is in their leadership. Rajat Patidhar will be their new captain and he will be the leading man for Bangalore in IPL 2025. The 18th season of IPL also marks homecoming for Bhuvneshwar Kumar who was previously signed by Sunrisers Hyderabad.

IPL 2025 - RCB Complete Squad

Probable Playing XI

Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Liam Livingstone, Devdutt Padikkal, Tim David, Rajat Patidar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma

Royal Challengers Bangalore - Squad Strength

In every season of IPL in the last 17 years, Royal Challengers Bangalore have always come out with a strong lineup of batting unit. The pattern remains the same for the 18th season of the league.

Their top order consists of India’s modern-day legend Virat Kohli, and to support him, the team has England’s danger man Phil Salt and Devdutt Padikkal at number 3. His presence is also an advantage for the team in terms of left-hand-right-hand combination in the top order.

In the middle order, RCB will have skipper Rajat Patidar, England’s Liam Livingstone, and Australia’s T20 expert batter Tim David. The trio can form a deadly combination and can lead the team towards a positive result.

Another strength of Royal Challengers Bangalore is their pace unit. Josh Hazlewood has been brought to the job for Bangalore and he will be combined with India’s ace swing expert Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Bhuvneshar Kumar has come out as a weak link in recent seasons, but it will be a fresh start from him with a new squad & Josh Hazlewood is making a comeback to the league after an absence of one year. These two pacers will be combined with Yash Dayal, who is also a pacer from Indian domestic grounds.

RCB - Impact Player

For IPL 2025, Royal Challengers Bangalore will have 3 options for impact players. Suyash Sharma, Devdutt Padikkal, and Swapnil Singh can be used as impact players for the team whenever needed.

Devdutt Padikkal is known for his batting talent and can be given a chance during the chase against any opposition. Young spinner Suyash Sharma had a positive outing in the last two seasons of IPL with Kolkata Knight Riders. Swapnil Singh can be used as one more spin bowler during the middle overs in tough situations.

Royal Challengers Bangalore - Weakness

The biggest weakness of Royal Challengers Bangalore is in their spin bowling, where they don’t have an experienced name and a match-winner. In this scenario, the whole pressure will come on Liam Livingstone and the pace unit to perform.

Another weakness is very niche. In the middle order, RCB will be dependent on Liam Livingstone and Tim David for a dominating performance. Both batters are known to score runs on pitches that have good bounce. However, Indian pitches like Chepauk are known to not have a good bounce and hence the duo might fail on multiple occasions.

IPL 2025 - New Additions for Royal Challengers Bangalore

IPL 2025 - Royal Challengers Bangalore - Winning Odds

Below are the winning odds for RCB according to the Indian betting apps.

IPL 2025 - Royal Challengers Bangalore - Schedule
 

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