Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) sprang a shock when untested Rajat Patidar was named as the captain for IPL 2025. And thus a brand new period begins for a franchise which has seen seven captains in the previous β from Rahul Dravid, Kevin Pietersen, Anil Kumble all the means to Faf du Plessis.
Patidar, who turned the Madhya Pradesh skipper simply final yr, now faces the unenviable process of guiding RCB to a maiden IPL trophy.
For starters, Patidar wants to assert his authority and win his teammates over shortly, on condition that RCB Director of Cricket Mo Bobat muddied the waters by insisting that celebrity Virat Kohli βdoesnβt need a captaincy title to leadβ.
Patidar may also want to extract the greatest out of a squad which is much from excellent. There is nice information in the high of the batting order, with the signing of a fearless stroke participant in Phil Salt.
The Englishman can do critical injury in the PowerPlay, and is properly suited to make up for his extra sedate opening associate, Kohli.
Patidar, a constant run-maker, holds the key in the middle-order. Liam Livingstone, one other new signing, is round to present acceleration at quantity 4.
Weak hyperlinks
The finisher roles, for a while a weak hyperlink for RCB, can be donned by Tim David, Krunal Pandya and Jitesh Sharma. David returns to a group he represented in the 2021 season, the place he featured in only one sport.
Wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh impressed for Punjab Kings in IPL 2022 and 2023, however underperformed in the final version. The spin unit, so essential to T20 success, seems thread naked.
Experienced left-arm spinner Krunal is compelled to take the lead, even when his greatest days are behind him. Suyash Sharma, who picked three wickets in his IPL debut two years in the past towards RCB, is the solely different recognised spinner.
The tempo load can be dealt with by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood and Yash Dayal. The trio is a handful with the new ball, however is much from environment friendly in the dying overs.
There are harm issues as properly, with the availability of Hazlewood and explosive Jacob Bethell beneath a cloud.
Published – March 12, 2025 12:28 am IST
