IPL 2020: 3 players who could come back to RCB this season
The Indian Premier League (IPL) spares no one. The reputation of many gets made or broken in the most popular T20 franchise league in the world. A classic example of this would be Virat Kohli. The star batsman who has made breaking records across formats a habit hasn’t been able to figure out how to win an IPL trophy.
He looks hapless and confused at times leading an RCB side that promises a lot on paper but just doesn’t deliver when it matters. As a franchise, they have been found wanting especially in the bowling department. While they have had world-class batsmen that have ensured they have such a strong fan base, but that hasn’t resulted in much happiness as far success as a team goes.
The fans of the franchise who have been so loyal to them despite so many heartburns would hope that 2020 would be their year. Virat Kohli led RCB released a slew of big-ticket players ahead of this year’s players auction. They have got sufficient funds to bulk up and strengthen their squad for the next season.
Also see – World Test Championship points table
But keeping in mind the gaps this team needs to fill up and the form of some players they released, here’s looking at three players who were released by RCB who could come back into their team for IPL 2020:
Shimron Hetmyer (West Indies)
A lot of noise was made before the start of IPL 2019 about Shimron Hetmyer’s inclusion into the RCB setup. With the likes of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Moeen Ali and Marcus Stoinis already in the mix, Hetmyer was considered the perfect solution to end RCB’s middle order worries.
Sadly, that was not the case as the flamboyant Windies batsman failed to counter the spinners on his first experience in Indian conditions. Opposition used his weakness against spin to the fullest and bought on a spinner almost as soon the batsman came into the crease.
But in the past 2-3 months leading into the T20I series against India that concluded 2-1 in India's favour, the Windies batsman looked really fluent and displayed his potential. He has noticeably improved his play against spinners as he has targeted Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in this series.
The youngster needs to hold his nerve, as he gets in and looks set to score big but throws his wicket away. If he had stayed with Kieron Pollard for 3-4 overs in Mumbai in the third T20I, things could have been far closer as Hetmyer was dominating India’s spinners. If he can reign himself in and keep control of his emotions, on current form coupled with his proven hitting ability RCB could end up buying Shimron Hetmyer despite him failing to deliver in IPL 2019.