5 players RCB should look to retain in 2018 IPL auctions
Ahead of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League, the BCCI has released the guidelines for the auction and the much-awaited retention policy for the participating teams. Season 11 is going to be a bigger affair as the two suspended franchises, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), are all set to make a comeback. The auction, a two-day affair, will be held on January 27 and 28 in Bangalore.
According to the retention policy, each franchise can retain a maximum of five players using a combination of pre-auction retention and Right To Match (RTM) cards. They have the option to retain three players through pre-auction retention which will leave them with two RTM cards. Alternatively, they can retain two players through pre-auction retention, leaving them with three RTM cards.
IPL 2017 was a season to forget for the Royal Challengers Bangalore as nothing went their way. Virat Kohli missed the initial part of the tournament due to an injury which left the team unsettled. Also, opener KL Rahul's absence owing to a shoulder injury left a hole in the batting lineup. Rahul had played an important role in the 2016 edition of the IPL, which was RCB's most successful season so far.
Leaving behind the failures of season 10, the team will look forward to performing better in the upcoming season.
Here are five players that Royal Challengers Bangalore are likely to retain:
#1 Virat Kohli
Retention Mode - Pre-auction retention
Virat Kohli, the captain of the Indian cricket team, has represented the Bangalore based franchise every single season since the inception of the tournament in 2008. Kohli has a terrific track record playing for them, having scored 4418 runs at an average of 37.44.
He is also second on the list of the highest run scorers in the IPL, only behind Suresh Raina who has scored 4540 runs. Virat is just 122 runs short of becoming the highest run scorer in the IPL. He will look forward to achieving this feat in the next edition of the IPL.
The prized possession of RCB has captained the team in the past five seasons after Daniel Vettori's retirement. His record as a captain has been phenomenal, having won 35 of the 70 matches between 2013 and 2017.
IPL 2016 was a memorable season for him as he scored 973 runs in just 16 innings at an average of 81.08, becoming the first batsman to score four centuries in a single season of the tournament in the process.
In the 2011 edition of the IPL, RCB had retained only Kohli from their team of 2010, sending all the other players into the auction pool. This shows the importance of the Indian skipper to the team.