3 RCB players who might be benched throughout IPL 2025 ft. Lungi Ngidi
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) had an interesting time out at the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction. The three-time IPL finalists seemed to miss out on most of their targets in the first half of Day 1 but recovered decently enough to put together a competitive roster.
Picking Bengaluru's playing XI (or XII) is a fairly straightforward task. Most of the batters pick themselves, with Devdutt Padikkal, Jacob Bethell and Tim David competing for the remaining limited spots in the side. In the bowling department, too, most questions are easy to answer.
RCB's squad for IPL 2025: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Tim David, Manoj Bhandage, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chikara, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Liam Livingstone, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Mohit Rathee, Suyash Sharma, Abhinandan Singh, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Rasikh Salam, Nuwan Thushara, Lungi Ngidi
However, what this means is that a number of players might find themselves out of the action during the upcoming IPL season. On that note, here are three RCB players who might be benched throughout IPL 2025.
#3 Lungi Ngidi
Josh Hazlewood is clearly RCB's frontline overseas pacer. The Aussie is one of the best bowlers in the world across phases and is a certainty to start in the playing XII.
That could mean that Lungi Ngidi is consigned to the bench throughout the upcoming IPL season. Even if Hazlewood is injured or unavailable, Bengaluru might not see Ngidi as fit to replace an all-phase bowler and might instead rely on Rasikh Salam to do the job.
Ngidi's style of bowling might not be too suitable for the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and he hasn't been able to make a mark over the last few years in T20 leagues.
#2 Nuwan Thushara
Nuwan Thushara's unique action and ability to hit yorkers make him an enticing prospect, but he isn't a complete T20 bowler. Overly reliant on yorkers and not possessing a great deal of pace, the Sri Lankan is primarily a powerplay weapon in the shortest format.
Unfortunately for Thushara, RCB have plenty of options on that front. Apart from Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal are known for their ability to swing the new ball. Getting an over or two out of the spinners might also be on the cards in the first six overs.
So Thushara's lack of reliability in the middle overs and the death could result in him being benched throughout IPL 2025.
#1 Swapnil Singh
Swapnil Singh had a big role to play in RCB's turnaround in IPL 2024, taking a number of important wickets and chipping in with the bat now and then. However, Krunal Pandya's signing is likely to restrict the all-rounder to the bench during the upcoming campaign.
The Royal Challengers clearly believe in Swapnil's skillset and even exercised the RTM card for him. But Krunal is the standout defensive left-arm spinner in the IPL and has an excellent economy rate across the board. The Baroda cricketer is also clearly better wiith the bat, and playing two similar spinners in tandem doesn't seem like a viable option for RCB.