IPL 2019: Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each team

#7 Royal Challengers Bangalore

Can he add an IPL trophy to his kitty?

Squad: Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Colin de Grandhomme, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Shivam Dube, Heinrich Klassen, Gurkeerat Singh, Himmat Singh, Prayas Ray Barman

Strengths

Strengths - AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli. Enough said. Arguably two of the best players in this competition, Kohli and de Villiers are set to carry the run-scoring burden on their hefty shoulders once again.

Elsewhere, RCB have a strong foreign all-rounders' group, that includes the in-form Marcus Stoinis (will not be available for the first couple of games), Colin de Grandhomme and Moeen Ali.

With the inclusion of Nathan Coulter-Nile, RCB also addressed their death bowling woes.

Weaknesses

The biggest weakness in this otherwise celebrated side is stability. RCB have overly relied on their skipper and de Villiers over the years, which has forced the management to look for other options every time they have sat on the auction table.

This time around too, it remains to be unearthed if Shivam Dube and Shimron Hetmyer can strike gold in the middle overs.

Verdict

RCB have an equal share of positives and negatives, but most importantly, they will have to start well. It piles pressure on the senior men if the others in the team don't rise to the occasion.

Start to the season holds key for RCB, as they cannot always pull rabbits out of the hat during the business end of the season.