The Royal Challengers Bangalore had a blow-hot blow-cold IPL season last year. Although they managed to qualify for qualifier 2 in IPL 2022, they faced major issues in some areas such as top-order batting and the seam department. To address these issues, RCB will look for some Indian top-order batsmen and bolster their seam attack by adding some overseas players. Let us find out RCB’s probable checklist for the IPL 2023 mini-auction.
Who has RCB Retained?
RCB has retained 18 players from the previous season and released only 5. RCB is one of those teams that has released the fewest number of players. Here is the list of players retained by RCB for IPL 2023 –
- Faf du Plessis (Captain)
- Anuj Rawat
- Shahbaz Ahmed
- Mohammad Siraj
- Karn Sharma
- Mahipal Lomror
- Glenn Maxwell
- Wanindu Hasaranga
- Dinesh Karthik
- Suyash Prabhudessai
- Akash Deep
- Siddharth Kaul
- David Willey
- Harshal Patel
- Josh Hazlewood
- Rajat Patidar
- Finn Allen
- Virat Kohli
How Much Money Does RCB Have?
RCB will go into the upcoming IPL auctions with the 2nd lowest purse amount. They will have INR 8.75 crores and they have 7 slots to fill (2 overseas slots).
Skills They are Looking for
- RCB desperately needs some overseas seamers as backup options for their premier pacer Josh Hazlewood. They chose to trade one of their overseas seamers Jason Behrendoff to the Mumbai Indians. The need for a quality seamer was felt during the last season when Siraj, with his economy of 10+, could not complement Hazlewood.
- RCB would also like to add an Indian top-order batter to their squad. They gambled with Anuj Rawat with du Plessis at the top last year and the gamble did not pay off well. If they can add a top-order batsman then Kohli can come at his usual number 3 position.
- In the bowling department, they can go after Siddharth Kaul who had a great SMAT 2022 tournament as a backup option for Siraj. They would also like to acquire the services of a mystery spinner in case Hasaranga is unavailable.
Who RCB can Target?
RCB has 4 overseas seam options to pick from – Jhye Richardson, Reece Topley, Adam Milne and Nathan Coulter-Nile. Coulter-Nile was part of the RCB squad in 2018 and 2019 but could not take the field due to injuries. In the batting department, they can either go after Mayank Agarwal or N Jagadeesan. Since Agarwal can be a hot deal and many teams have more amount to spend, they can ideally target Jagadeesan who will give them an extra wicketkeeping option as well. In the seam department, they can acquire the services of Ishan Porel, Ishant Sharma, Mayank Markande, Shreyas Gopal and M Ashwin.
