Top 5 Indian Premier League Teams before the auctions

#3 Royal Challengers Bangalore

A lot will depend on the famed trio this season

The Royal Challengers Bangalore have always been a powerhouse in the league through all its nine seasons but have failed to lay their hands on the coveted prize.

Not once or twice, the Challengers have made it to the finals three times and have come back with silver medals. They had a horrendous start to their inaugural campaign as Brendon McCullum then playing for KKR smashed their bowlers to all parts of the park. They lost the game by a huge margin and never quite recovered from it.

In the next season, however, under the captaincy of Anil Kumble, the Challengers were a force to reckon with. They made it to the finals in Johannesburg (As the IPL was held in South Africa) but lost to Deccan Chargers (now defunct) in a close contest.

They were semi-finalists in the very next season but then again made it to the finals in 2011. It had been a tournament for Chris Gayle till the end but in the ultimate game chasing Chennai’s massive 205 Gayle was dismissed for 0. Eventually, they fell short by 58 runs.

Over the next three seasons, it was again being the best team on pen and paper but not on the ground as they failed to make it past the group stage.

However, led by their talismanic captain Virat Kohli in 2016 who scored four hundred they made it to the finals again. But this time too their hopes were dashed as the Sunrisers Hyderabad went on to claim the title.

This year too they have retained more or less their core team and you will once again get to see the likes of AB De Villiers and Chris Gayle batting alongside Kohli. Will they be fourth time lucky?