IPL 2022 Auction: Predicting the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad in the marquee tournament
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will head into IPL 2022 auction hoping to build a side that will help them break the long trophy drought. In what comes as another "stating the obvious" is the fact that this is a side that has made some of the more questionable splurges that didn't exactly yield the results they hoped for.
The good news: they have Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj as their core and will look to add some familiar names in Yuzvendra Chahal and KS Bharat to the squad when the auction gets underway.
Barring these five names, they will need to build a 20+ roster that will help provide more than just firepower. Balance has always been a struggle for Bangalore and while they did nail it in IPL 2021, they were just outplayed by Kolkata in the playoffs.
With the IPL 2022 auction looming, we take a shot at predicting what RCB could look like after the auction.
IPL 2022 Auction: Predicting the RCB squad
With the remaining budget of INR 57 Cr, the idea for RCB will be to assemble a core for the next three years. We can safely assume that they will make a strong bid for Harshal Patel and Chahal — their middle-overs bowlers who played a crucial part in their playoff journey.
Like we did with our previous predictions, we take a look at the batters first, one of whom will also be a potential leader for the side.
To better explain the potential batters, Warner and Iyer would come in as expensive buys. Should the side lose their bidding battle to other franchises, they could still have explosive and dependable openers in Shikhar Dhawan and Faf du Plessis to partner Kohli at the top.
Steve Smith, Manish Pandey and KS Bharat may look like a clunky fit on paper, but their ability to drop the anchor and play the long innings makes them ideal candidates for the No.3 spot that will be followed by Maxwell.
Moving on to the seamers and spinners, with Siraj already part of the squad, the idea would be to provide another quick who can help pick up wickets regularly.
Like last season, RCB could probably invest in a seamer who comes in with potential. Instead of Jamieson, they could bag experienced IPL seamers in Boult and Rabada in the IPL 2022 auction who could share the new ball and also play their roles to perfection in the death overs.
Up next are the glovemen. While KS Bharat would be an ideal candidate to don that cap, RCB can look for some steals in Robin Uthappa and Mohammed Azharuddeen.
And finally, the all-rounders. Bangalore will look for a quality all-rounder in the IPL 2022 auction who can also provide a final flourish with the bat in case the top order has an off day.
What our ideal RCB XI would look like after the IPL 2022 Auction?
Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer (c), Glenn Maxwell, Robin Uthappa (wk), Harshal Patel, Krishnappa Gowtham, Trent Boult, Mohammed Siraj and Yuzvendra Chahal.