5 players that could have helped RCB qualify for playoffs

The IPL team with one of the largest fan base, Royal Challengers Bangalore, saw an early exit from the eleventh edition of the tournament yet again. With six wins from fourteen matches, RCB finished at the sixth position ahead of the playoffs.

Lack of Indian all-rounder options coupled with disturbed middle-order and poor death bowling figures... if there's one team that can pull off all of this in a single season, it has to be Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The dismal performance by the Bangalore franchise raised several questions on the team management. The team's over-reliance on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers backfired on them. Interestingly, both Virat and AB scored 1010 runs as compared to 1230 runs scored by rest of the players this season.

This stat sums up the lack of contribution from other team members. Notably, there were several mistakes made by the management ahead of the season. Retaining Sarfaraz instead of KL Rahul proved to be their costliest blunder.

Even after this decision, RCB management had several better options than they purchased during the auctions.

Here's are five unsold players that would have helped RCB qualify for playoffs:

#5 Morne Morkel

Morne Morkel, the South African pacer, has been one of the best bowlers in the world across all the three formats. He retired from international cricket in February this year but is available for all the county's matches in the County Championship and the T20 leagues such as IPL.

Morkel has played most of his IPL seasons for Kolkata Knight Riders and was a key bowler for them. In 70 IPL games, he has 77 wickets to his name at an economy of just under eight.

RCB faced a prominent challenge with their death bowling due to the lack of quality bowlers. The Proteas pacer has a good record bowling in deaths and could have proven to be a decisive bowler in their struggles.

RCB should keep an eye on his performance in the future.