RCB Playing 11 IPL 2021: Royal Challengers Bangalore Predicted Playing XI for Indian Premier League 2021

RCB Playing 11 IPL 2021: Royal Challengers Bangalore spent a mammoth INR 35.05 crore to buy eight players yesterday.

Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore was hell-bent on plugging a few gaps to the extent that they splurged a whopping INR 29.25 crore on two overseas all-rounders in Glenn Maxwell and Kyle Jamieson during the IPL 2021 auction held in Chennai yesterday.

Despite spending a maximum of INR 84.65 crore, Royal Challengers have the least number of players (22). Having said that, neither the amount of money spent nor the number of players bought decide whether a team can lift the IPL trophy or not. The same is decided by what the selected players do on a given day.

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RCB, who have lacked in the lower-order batting and bowling department over the years, have appeared to fix both the issues by including as many as four overseas players who can contribute across departments. With these players having it in them to finish the innings on a high, the management would be hoping for them to turn the tables in IPL 2021.

RCB Playing 11 IPL 2021

Top-order

In the last season, Royal Challengers’ top-order revolved around debutant opening batsman Devdutt Paddikal. The likes of captain Virat Kohli, Aaron Finch, Josh Phillipe opened the batting with the southpaw on various occasions. In this season, an ideal opening combination for Bangalore would that be of Paddikal-Kohli.

Coming on the back of scoring 508 runs at an average and strike rate of 31.75 and 149.41 respectively in the recently concluded Big Bash League, Phillipe will enter the squad with a lot of backing behind him.

However, playing Phillipe would prevent Bangalore from making the most of their overseas all-rounders. If they play an overseas player at the top, the are likely to face the same problem of not accelerating after the departure of Kohli and former South Africa captain AB de Villiers.

Knowing that the same would fall under unpopular opinion, Royal Challengers should look at playing an Indian batsman at No. 3. With them picking in-form domestic batsmen such as Sachin Baby, Rajat Patidar and Mohammed Azharuddeen, it is time for them to justify their selections by not playing these top-order batsmen at No. 6 or 7.

Middle-order

de Villiers, who will continue to be the focal point of their middle-order, now has Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell to match fire with fire. Because enough has already been said about what Maxwell can do and what he has done in the IPL so far, no point in discussing him. Given his price money, he is bound to be part of their starting XI and let’s hope for him to not let his IPL team down this time.

With Kyle Jamieson another certainty, RCB will have to pick one between Daniel Sams and Daniel Christian as their fourth overseas player in the XI. In Sams, they will enjoy the cushion of a left-arm pacer. On the other hand, Christian will press his case on the back of being a better batsman and highly experienced and “successful” in this format.

With India all-rounder Washington Sundar also in the mix, the team management can rotate these all-rounders according to the need of the hour.

Bowlers

In Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj and Yuzvendra Chahal, Royal Challengers have a trustworthy Indian trio which currently plays for India and are likely to do wonders for their IPL team. As has been the case in the past, Chahal’s four overs will hold utmost importance especially at the Chinnaswamy Stadium (if IPL 2021 is conducted in India).

Chahal, who has won numerous games for them with his timely wickets, will have Sundar and Maxwell to accompany him in the spin-bowling department.

Predicted Playing XI – 1) Devdutt Paddikal 2) Virat Kohli (c) 3) Sachin Baby/Rajat Patidar 4) AB de Villiers (wk) 5) Glenn Maxwell 6) Washington Sundar 7) Kyle Jamieson 8) Daniel Sams 9) Navdeep Saini 10) Mohammed Siraj 11) Yuzvendra Chahal