IPL 2020: 3 things Royal Challengers Bangalore can do to improve their performance next season
Since the inception of the Indian Premier League in 2008, the Royal Challengers Bangalore have undergone a variety of tweaks including staff, captain, jersey and logo. But what has remained constant is the abundance of talent in their squad.
RCB have some of the best batsmen in the world in the form of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, along with a talented roster of up and comers such as Washington Sundar, Shimron Hetmyer and Navdeep Saini. That's not to mention the presence of potential match-winning bowlers such as Yuzvendra Chahal and Umesh Yadav, who are great assets even for the national side.
Yet the Royal Challengers keep coming up short, sometimes by big margins and sometimes by a strand of hair. They still find themselves searching for that elusive trophy, and they need to change something to get there.
Here are three ways the outfit can improve their side and potentially break their duck in IPL 2020.
1) Getting death bowlers with a proven track record in T20s
RCB put up a total of 205/3 against KKR in Match 17 of IPL 2019, which by most standards is quite a formidable score. It seemed even easier to defend when KKR found themselves needing 53 in just 18 balls.
But RCB ended up leaking 53 runs in not three but just two overs, and a similar pattern ensued for the rest of the tournament.
Death bowling has been RCB's Achilles heel for the past three seasons. They have invested in talents such as Tymal Mills (bought for INR 12 crore in 2017 and released after one season) for death bowling duties as well as useful yet inconsistent bowlers such as Umesh Yadav and Mohommad Siraj, but the problem still persists.
Their confidence in Tim Southee also turned out to be misplaced as the pacer conceded runs at an economy of 13 in IPL 2019.
The addition of one or two experienced and proven bowlers who can show composure at the death would help RCB convert their close games into wins. Which bowlers can they target in this regard?
Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc are proven death overs specialists with tremendous wicket-taking ability. Cummins boasts an economy of 6.99 in T20Is with an average of 21.24. Starc, meanwhile, is coming in on a string of great performances in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 with 27 wickets in 10 matches.
These two are not tied to any IPL side right now, and would be valuable buys for the Royal Challengers.
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