IPL 2018: 4 dark horses who can change RCB's fortunes

The Royal Challengers Bangalore are yet to secure an IPL title even after having quite a few heavy-weights in their squad. They have made some promising starts in the tournament and absolutely dominated proceeding in some games but they struggled for the most part and lost matches in clusters. In spite of having big fishes like Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Mitchell Starc and Chris Gayle, RCB failed to make an impact on a uniform basis and lacked consistency. They choked at the critical junctures of the tournament and lost quite a few times in the deciders.

Their paramount concern has been the lack of consistency from the Indian players, and except for the skipper Virat Kohli and Yuzvendra Chahal, no one was up to the scratch.

In the IPL, as little as four overseas players are permitted to feature in the playing eleven and the performance of the Indians, mostly the uncapped youngsters can turn out to be the deciding element in the tournament. Successful franchises like Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings have invariably relied on their Indian players more than the overseas players to do the job.

Unlike the years went by, this year, the men in red have invested a fair amount in the Indian players, particularly in a few underrated players who have got the potential to make a difference and can create an impression in this year's IPL. RCB will be hoping that their Indian players come to the party, and change their fate.

Presenting the 4 dark horses who can change RCB's fortunes.

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#4 Navdeep Saini

The 25-year-old right-arm medium pacer from Delhi caught a lot of eyes in the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy season and played a massive role in Delhi's success as they went on to make it to the finals of the Ranji Trophy, but unfortunately lost to Vidarbha in the finals.

The young lad bowls at a steady pace and concedes runs at a sensational economy rate of 6.03 in domestic T20's. He was a part of the Delhi Daredevils squad in IPL 2017 but didn't get a game, but this year things are likely to take a turn for him.

A lot of RCB's hopes will rest on his performance as they don't have a front-line Indian seamer in their ranks, and the kind of nick he has been in domestic cricket he might well end up getting the new ball in his hand.

#3 Manan Vohra

The 24-year-old opening batsman has been a part of the Kings XI Punjab since 2013 and opened the innings for them in most of the occasions. He is someone who can take his team off to a flying start and can exploit the first six overs of field restrictions.

In 45 IPL matches that he played, he went on to get 957 runs at a decent strike rate. He has bagged 3 half-centuries with a highest score of 95. Apart from the IPL performances, he was quite incredible in the CLT20, 2014 and scored loads of runs in just a few games.

He is expected to open the innings for RCB as well, and they'll be hoping that the Punjabi lad gets them off to a decent enough start.

#2 Sarfaraz Khan

The 20-year-old Mumbai lad has been a part of the RCB squad since 2015 and transpired to be an effectual finisher. He played a part in some games and had a mind-boggling strike rate of 173.53. In a game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016, he took apart India's peerless death bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar and smashed him to all parts of the ground.

He has been an exceptional player of the scoops and the late cuts and can score square of the wicket at will, particularly when the bowlers are targeting the blockhole in the death overs. There was never any doubt about his batting skills, but his fielding has been a concern. This year surprisingly he was retained by the franchise in spite of warming the benches for the past few seasons.

RCB's lower middle order has always been vulnerable, and this year they'll need someone of the caliber of Sarfaraz Khan to make sure that they make the most of the death overs.

#1 Washington Sundar

The off-spinning all-rounder has been in sublime form off-late and was proclaimed the man of the tournament in the recently concluded Nidahas Trophy. He is someone who can bowl in the powerplays on a consistent basis and is competent of making some early inroads for his side.

He doesn't give the ball much air and generally sticks to a wicket-to-wicket line without giving the batsman any room to play with. Till now in 6 T20I that he has played, he went on to get 9 wickets at a tremendous economy rate of 5.67.

Last year, he played for the Rising Pune Supergiants and turned out to be matchless upfront with the new ball, and bowled at a stupendous economy rate of 6.17 in a tournament where 180 is just a par score.

This year Virat will bank on him to get a few early breakthroughs and some frugal overs during the powerplays. RCB will be hoping that Sundar delivers in the powerplays, unlike the Samuel Badree experimentation which went horribly wrong for the RCB.