IPL History: RCB's 2009 finalist XI - Where are they now?
RCB’s campaign in this year’s IPL might have been over, but they are one of the most entertaining franchises in the league. In spite of not having won the title in twelve editions, it has a huge fan base due to the brand of cricket it plays.
The first season didn’t go as expected with just four wins as opposed to ten losses putting them 7th in the points table. This meant that the team was looking for a comeback in the second edition of the tournament. In the auctions, Kevin Pietersen was bought for a record price of 1.55 million USD with local boys Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey joining the squad. Pietersen failed to live up to the expectations as the team won just two out of the first six games.
After Pietersen left to play for England, the team’s fortunes improved as they qualified for the knock-outs with six wins in the remaining eight games under Anil Kumble’s captaincy. In the semis, they thrashed CSK by 5 wickets to make the final where they faced Deccan Chargers.
They bowled excellently restricting the opposition to just 143. However, the team struggled to chase this and eventually lost by six runs. No matter what the result was, RCB’s comeback was the talking point of the season. Let us look at what each player from that squad who was a part of 2009 IPL final doing now.
#1 Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey and Roelof van der Merwe
Jacques Kallis was an asset to RCB as far as all-round performance was concerned. Kallis wore the red jersey in the first three editions scoring 1172 runs in 42 matches which included ten fifties. He also bowled well taking 23 wickets in the same period. In the 2011 auctions, he was sold to 2011 where he had a couple of good seasons. After retiring from all forms of cricket, he has been the coach of KKR since 2015.
Meanwhile, Manish Pandey played for Mumbai in 2008 and was taken into RCB for the second season. His ton against Deccan Chargers was the first by an Indian in IPL. He played a key role in RCB’s success in 2009 and 2010. His success led him to represent India in ODIs as well as T20Is. As of now, he is captaining the Karnataka team in the domestic circuit besides playing for SRH in the IPL.
Coming in at number three is Roelof van der Merwe, who was known for cameos with the bat along with left-arm orthodox spin bowling. He striked at about 125 and took nine wickets in ten matches that he played. He was part of the RCB for another edition besides representing South Africa in a couple of limited over matches.
Because of limited opportunities, he gained Dutch passport and started representing Netherlands in T20Is. He played his most recent T20 against Ireland in February 2019. He is also seen playing for Somerset in the English county circuit.
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