"That's not going to happen a 2nd year in a row" - Sanjay Manjrekar expects Faf du Plessis to fire for RCB

Sanjay Manjrekar expects the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and their skipper Faf du Plessis to do well in IPL 2023.

RCB have released only five players as part of their retention process. They have just ₹8.75 crores remaining in their purse for the mini-auction on December 23 in Kochi.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Manjrekar was asked about his thoughts on how far the franchise is from an IPL title. He responded:

It's a good team and they gave impressive performances last season despite the failure of Faf du Plessis, and that's not going to happen a second year in a row. So I expect them to really do well."

The former Indian batter believes RCB has a well-rounded seam attack. He explained:

"There is a reason that they let go of a quality bowler like Behrendorff, because they have got quality in their seam. They have got Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, Josh Hazlewood. Their bowling is pretty good."

The three-time finalists also have Akash Deep, David Willey, and Siddharth Kaul as part of their seam-bowling contingent. They will hope Josh Hazlewood is available to them throughout the tournament, considering Australia have a busy calendar next year.

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"Rajat Patidar's emergence as a batter has helped RCB" - Sanjay Manjrekar

Rajat Patidar played a few scintillating knocks in IPL 2022. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Manjrekar feels Rajat Patidar delivering the goods on the big stage last season should hold the franchise in good stead. He elaborated:

"Rajat Patidar's emergence as a batter has helped RCB. So it's just about RCB winning the title. When you look at the team there is nothing to suggest now and because there aren't too many chopping and changes that are going on, it's a settled unit."

The cricketer-turned-commentator concluded by opining that the perennial underachievers will be strong contenders for the title once their skipper starts performing. He stated:

"I like the fact that they haven't tampered with it too much because they had one of their better seasons last time around and again I say, without really a major contribution from Faf and once that contribution starts coming in, then they are very close to winning the title."

Tom Moody also expressed his happiness about RCB releasing very few players. However, the former Australian all-rounder was surprised by Sherfane Rutherford's release, reasoning that left-handed middle-order batters like him can prove incredibly destructive in the T20 format.