IPL 2019: 3 key overseas players for Royal Challengers Bangalore
The 12th edition of Indian Premier League is set to begin on the 23rd march and the excitement levels are at their peak. The first match of the tournement will be between the defending champions Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai.
RCB were the runners-up in 2009, 2011 and 2016 but have never managed to lift the trophy. Last season, they finished at 6th position in the table with six wins and eight losses. Despite not winning the big prize, the franchaise's players have won the orange cap thrice and two Most Valuable Player titles.
RCB hold the record for both the highest and lowest team totals in the history of the competition. They registered the highest total of 263 against Pune Warriors in 2013 while they scored the lowest total of 49 against Kolkata Knight Riders in 2017.
RCB has always been known for their power-packed batting line-up. Although, they always lacked the mojo in the bowling department. This year the team look well-balanced and they will be hoping to do their best under the leadership of Virat Kohli.
Here, let's have a look at 3 key overseas players for RCB in this edition of IPL
#3 Nathan Coulter-Nile
The 31-year-old Nathan Coulter-Nile from Western Australia is a key member of Australia's limited over's team at the moment. He played for Perth Scorchers in the recent edition of Big Bash League and picked up 14 wickets from 13 matches at an average of 27.10 and has an economy rate of 7.45.
He was a part of the Australian squad that toured India this month. In the T20 series against, he picked four wickets in the two matches. He also featured in a couple of ODI's and took 3 wickets in them. Overall, he has taken 41 ODI wickets from 24 matches and 34 T20I wickets from 28 matches.
In IPL, Coulter-Nile has represented Mumbai Indians in 2013, Delhi Daredevils from 2014 to 2016, Kolkata Knight Riders in 2017 and joined RCB last year but could not feature due to an injury. In his last outing in 2017, he picked 15 wickets from eight matches for KKR. He has a total of 36 IPL wickets from 26 matches. He is expected to lead the bowling attack for RCB this year and Virat Kohli will hope the right-arm pacer can solve his problems in the bowling department.