Royal Challengers Bangalore have been agonizingly close to the summit, but have never emerged victorious in all their IPL campaigns. Three finals losses can take a toll on the team’s psyche and maybe last year was a sign of that frustration.
Bangalore finished dead last in the IPL last year, severely under performing. The expectations for this perennial playoff team is high, and they have emptied out a large chunk of their team from last year ahead of the 2020 IPL auction, for a title push this year.
Bangalore has opened up slots for 12 new players, but don’t have the same salary leeway that a team like Kolkata has. Their deadly batting duo of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli will suit up in RCB colours for another season, but bowlers like Dale Steyn and Tim Southee will be up for grabs at IPL auction next month.
RCB Released Players
Akshdeep Nath, Colin de Grandhomme, Dale Steyn, Heinrich Klassen, Himmat Singh, Kulwant Khejroliya, Marcus Stoinis, Milind Kumar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Prayas Ray Barman, Shimron Hetmyer, Tim Southee
RCB Squad Retained
AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Gurkeerat Singh, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Parthiv Patel, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Virat Kohli, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal
Player Slots Left
12 (six domestic, six overseas)
Money Spent
Rs 57.10 cr
Purse Remaining
Rs 27.90 cr
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