3 reasons why IPL 2021 could finally be RCB's breakaway tournament

#3 Increased quality & quantity of bowling options

RCB have also performed poorly over the years due to a lack of quality bowling options outside their main five bowlers

Another of RCB's biggest bugbears over the years has been a real lack in quality sixth and seventh bowling options. This lack of balance means they have had to rely too heavily on their five main bowling options, and when one or two of those bowlers have a bad day at the office, Kohli simply has no one else to turn to.

With the purchases of Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christian and Kyle Jamieson, RCB look to have taken a big step forward in resolving this concern. While Jamieson will likely form part of the main five bowlers with Washington, Chahal, Saini and Siraj, Maxwell can provide a handy over or two of off-spin, while Christian is a more than useful additional pace-bowling option. He has picked up over 250 T20 wickets and is part of an elite list of all-rounders with over 5000 runs and 250 wickets in T20 cricket. Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell and Shakib Al Hasan are the only others to have achieved this feat.

Jamieson's burgeoning batting prowess also gives RCB the flexibility to replace Dan Christian with Jamieson himself and play an extra overseas batsman such as Finn Allen or an extra overseas bowler like Daniel Sams or Adam Zampa, depending on the pitch, conditions and opposition match-ups.

With Washington Sundar and Mohammed Siraj now riding high on confidence after their breakthrough tour of Australia, RCB have the bowling depth they need to reach the playoffs and possibly even challenge for the championship this year.

Predicted RCB XI

Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (C), Mohammed Azharuddeen, AB de Villiers (WK), Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christian, Kyle Jamieson, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj

Notable Bench Strength

Finn Allen, Josh Philippe, Rajat Patidar, Sachin Baby, Daniel Sams, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson, Shahbaz Ahmed