4 reasons why RCB may win IPL 2020

IPL, the most competitive, cash-rich T-20 cricket league of the world, is set to begin in a few months. Royal Challenge Bangalore fans are geared up once again to support the Bangalore-based franchise. With all the heartbreaks and disappointments of all these years, it's a tough job being an RCB fan. Enduring all the trolling and setbacks of the past, RCB fans are once again being hopeful of an IPL win. So here are four reasons for them to be hopeful this year around that RCB may win IPL 2020. As Andy Dufresne in Shawshank redemption said, hope is a good thing- probably the best of things- and no good thing ever dies.

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#1 Trusted Indian core players

Navdeep Saini

In all the previous seasons from the start, RCB has always hit the reset button when they've failed to perform in a particular season. But from the past few seasons, the management has trusted few players like Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar and Navdeep Saini despite their indifferent performances. All these players are playing in the Indian team now and are in contention for a world cup squad for T-20 World Cup this year.

This season might be the season where RCB reap the reward of trusting these players.

Instead of retaining international stars like Shimron Hetmyer and Colin de Grandhomme, they have focused on nurturing Indian domestic talents. Players like Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, and Gurkeerat Mann have been trusted with their abilities and are most likely to form the core of the team in the 13th edition.

Also see – India vs New Zealand schedule

#2 Limited number of players

ABD in BBL - Brisbane Heat v Adelaide Strikers Mike Hesson

RCB has always had a bigger squad compared to other teams in the IPL. This has resulted in Virat Kohli and the management trying out different combinations until the end of the tournament but never really getting it right.

For instance, in the 2019 IPL, he used as many as 22 options from the squad which consisted of 25 players. From that one can say that the team never played a game with a settled combination as Kohli tried to build an illusory perfect XI. Keeping that in mind the franchise has trimmed the squad ahead of the 13th edition of IPL.

This year RCB has a squad of 21 players and it is most likely that they are going to stick to a settled combination throughout the tournament even if few players fail for 2-3 matches which is going to give consistency to the team.

#3 Power hitting

Virat Kohli in West Indies v India - One Day International Series

Batting has never really been an issue for the RCB side. On paper, they've had one of the best batting lineups in the previous seasons.

But RCB has always failed to find players who complement each other well and perform in a pressure match. Especially in the last 4 years, not a single batsmen from the team has scored more than 400 runs in the season except Kohli and AB de Villiers, which shows how over-dependent RCB are on these two players.

Luckily they have made the right decision by bagging players like Aaron Finch, Josh Philippe and Devdutt Padikkal in 2020 IPL auctions. All these players have been scoring heavily in the domestic T-20 tournaments. It will also allow ABD and Kohli to play freely.

Devdutt Padikkal in particular has been in amazing form this season scoring 580+ runs at an average of 60+ in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy.

#4 Variety in bowling

Kane Richardson in BBL - Melbourne Renegades v Sydney Sixers

The main problem for RCB all these years has been their bowling. Even after scoring more than 200 runs in matches their bowling has let them down.

It's quite disturbing to see them find a leading bowler in every season. Even after spending millions in auctions they have never found a long-term solution to their bowling woes.

One can easily understand their death overs fiasco by looking at their record in the 2019 IPL where they conceded runs at an economy rate of 11.23. Still, it can be termed as an improvement as that number stood 11.87 at the end of IPL 2018. From these figures, it is clear that their death bowling needed a quick boost and that’s why now they have imported some specialists before the IPL 2020.

This time around the bowling looks quite better from previous seasons as the likes of Navdeep Saini and Washington Sundar have become a constant part of the Indian T20 team performing really well for the team. They have also added the likes of Chris Morris, Kane Richardson and Isuru Udana who have proven track record in the T-20 tournaments around the globe.