Being honest about RCB's chances this IPL - No miracles expected

When you look at the depth SRH possess – Steyn, Mishra, Sammy, Irfan, Rasool, Karn Sharma, Ishant – in bowling we are nowhere near. But considering Vinays and Mithuns and Arvinds of past seasons, we have a far better attack with an able leader- Lankier than the scariest Johnson, he strikes at a better rate than Dale Steyn, possessing an average that would make Malinga jealous.

Mitchell Starc, with a T20 average and strike rate of 15.34 and 13.1, the leader of the pack, will be the bowler to watch in this season. In Varun Aaron we have a lot of hope and pace and we should ensure our prayers make Ashok Dinda bowl better than what he is used to. There are many chances that our prayers will be answered considering who is presiding over the bowling department – Allan Donald.

But to be honest, it’s all old rum in new bottle, making the best use of the resources.

Well, where is the spin? In flat and dry tracks of UAE and India?

Only God knows.

So then…

Daniel Vettori, the coach or mentor, whose main task was to find a good spinner in auctions, failed miserably picking a burned out Muralitharan and a 33-year-old Jakati with one good IPL season. While Muralitharan managed to pick three wickets at an average of 59.00, owner of the worst figures in RCB, Jakati didn’t manage to get a game for CSK last season. Now Vettori has no choice but to extract something with a rookie in Yuzvendra Chahal or expect 2011 WC magic from Yuvraj Singh.

RCB lack that one great option in the spin department, but if Yuvraj Singh gets going, his left-arm orthodox can really trouble batsmen

The chances of RCB lies on how much Virat Kohli, the captain, can push the bowlers and the team. We all know what he is capable of. He almost successfully defended low scores in Asia Cup, with equally poor bowling attack, which we would never have imagined had it not been for him. The shrewd bowling changes were only let down by fielding efforts which were a huge factor even in the last season of IPL. No one better than Virat knows how dangerous it is to drop a catch, the game and a play-off spot.

Though our bowling and fielding is built on heaps of hope and only that, batting department is probably the best in the league. In Virat, ABDV and Gayle you have three best batsmen in this format. With these three taking up all the scoring burden usually, the new additions Parthiv Patel, capable of splitting powerplay field, and Yuvraj – we know what he is capable of – add more steel to the batting.

The arrival of Parthiv Patel is of huge importance here as it helps in more than one way. First of all – AB de Villiers could be relieved from keeping duties, thus adding a tremendous fielder to the outfield and then a settled batting order. In Parthiv there is a good support to the ever-explosive Gayle at the top to ensure the dynamic hitters – Virat Kohli, ABDV and Yuvraj – get a solid platform to take charge.

Apart from all this, at the end of the day, qualifying for play-offs depends on how Yuvraj Singh expresses himself with the ball. Slow left arm is a gold mine in T20s and if he could get his bowling form back we’ve got another reliable wicket-taking bowler in addition to Starc.

Best XI

What would the best eleven look like? You can’t trust the team management to put one in place, especially after they made Dan Christian play a game or two. Maybe Virat Kohli and co. have a syndrome of going for reputation rather than form. Nothing could explain why Murali played that many games. They will come up entirely with a different, odd or if you can say, stupid, line-up.

Cursing the team management again, this is the best XI we could propose -

Chris Gayle, Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Yuvraj Singh, Vijay Zol, Ravi Rampaul, Mitchell Starc, Shadab Jakati, Asoke Dinda, Varun Aaron.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Let’s not expect too much. Too many heartbreaks in a short span of time is pretty bad for our cricketing health. Let’s hope for the best, cross our No.18 jerseys, offer the purest prayer to our Gods. Let’s believe we might if we can seems too far away. Let’s have faith in the modern day demi gods. Let’s do it.

After all, you never know what is on the cards in this game of cricket. Do you?