IPL 2019: Royal Challengers Bangalore Squad Analysis

Bowling

Umesh Yadav had a good season for RCB last year

The bowling composition of this team looks more or less complete, with a good mix of spinners and fast bowlers. The spin department will undoubtedly be led by Yuzvendra Chahal, who can be brilliantly supported by Washington Sundar. Also beneficial for the team could be their complementary styles of bowling.

While one can restrict the flow of runs, the other can outfox batsmen with his guile and ability to turn the ball big. While Chahal is a wrist spinner who can bowl in the middle and end overs, Sundar is a traditional finger spinner, not afraid to bowl in the power play.

RCB also have the spin bowling options of Pawan Negi and Moeen Ali. Although Negi didn’t live up to the hype he created under MS Dhoni, he could be a useful option as well and as far as Ali is concerned, he has done surprisingly well with the ball and is quite capable with the bat in hand.

In the pace bowling department, Umesh Yadav revived his limited overs career with an excellent season last year and all eyes will be on him this season as he is expected to lead the pack. Along with him is somebody like a Mohammad Siraj, who has raw pace to work with and can definitely make his mark in the tournament, given Virat’s tendency to go with the extra pace in the team.

As far as overseas pacers are concerned, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Tim Southee find their place in the squad. However, in all probability, one of them might get a go in the playing XI. Given Coulter-Nile’s success in the league, he will be the preferred pacer and will have to take the charge of bowling the crucial power play overs as well as come back and bowl at the death since Yadav was a little expensive in the back end of the innings in the previous season.

Kulwant Khejroliya (16 wickets, 13 T20s) and Navdeep Saini (13 wickets, 14 T20s) as backup seamers is a pleasing sight for any captain given their track record in domestic cricket.

Follow Sportskeeda for all the updates on IPL news, IPL schedule, points table, live scores, fantasy tips and stats.