IPL 2014: 5 players Royal Challengers Bangalore could retain

Royal Challengers have been the “so-near-yet-so-far” team of the Indian Premier League over the years. After a disappointing campaign in 2008, the Bangalore-based franchise have promised plenty but failed at crucial moments, which has bequeathed them to being an inefficacious side in the following five editions.

If one has a look at the RCB team that have graced the field, it is easy to note that there has always been a great deal of imbalance within the first eleven. The batting has been top-heavy and the bowling has seldom being worthy of extolment.

This year’s auction will present the Vijay Mallya-owned side a glorious opportunity to get the right combination going for the next three editions of the IPL and – if possible – the Champions League T20.

Before the auction, every franchise had been granted the chance of retaining up to five players from last year’s squads. Here, we have a look at five players RCB might retain:

5. Vinay Kumar

While the top four names were quite clear, this spot created some debate within my mind. After some thought, I finally narrowed down to two pace (if you can still call him so) bowlers in Vinay Kumar and Zaheer Khan.

When it comes to pedigree, there’s no debate really, Zaheer comes out on top by a long margin. But I’m sure the think-tank at RCB will be looking at much more than just pedigree.

The main three things that made me go for Vinay over Zaheer are:

• Local boy – He’s the captain of Karnataka Ranji’s team and will add local flavour to a multi-cultural team.
• Age and fitness issues – Zaheer will turn 36 later this year and he is no longer the bowler he once was. Injuries in the recent past have taken a toll on him and his bowling has suffered. Last season, he was forced to sit out through most of the tournament.
• Similar records – There’s not much to differentiate between the two in the IPL. While Zaheer has a better economy rate, Vinay’s average and strike rate with the ball are slightly higher.

Most of the above factors seem to be in favour of Vinay and thus, I believe he has more of a chance of being retained than Zaheer.

Also, Vinay went for a huge price in the 2012 IPL auction, so retaining him could prove to be much cheaper than buying him back in the auction for RCB.

Retention Possibility: 30%