IPL 2017: Royal Challengers Bangalore's Best Possible XI

Fast Bowlers

Tymal Mills and Sreenath Aravind

After Starc’s departure, RCB were in desperate need of a foreign fast bowler who could lead the bowling attack. They found the able hands of Tymal Mills who could be the ideal replacement for Starc. He caught the eyes of everyone when he bowled beautifully at the death overs against India in the recent T20I series. He can bowl over 140 KMPH and simultaneously change the pace to fox the batsmen.

He could be accompanied by the Indian fast bowler Sreenath Aravind who had picked up 11 wickets in the 9 games last year and got the important wicket of Warner in the final. One area where RCB lacks is in the Indian fast bowler’s department and hence someone like Aravind will have huge responsibilities to fulfill.

Possible Replacements

The squad is top heavy having probably the best batting line-up amongst all the teams. With the presence of Kohli, Gayle and de Villiers, they are assured of big scores more often than not, something they did in the last season too. Their weakness lies in the bowling department.

If Aravind does not do well, he could be replaced by Harshal Patel or the 20-year-old Avesh Khan to backup the pace battery. Additionally, if Mills doesn’t turn up with the expected results, there is Adam Milne from New Zealand in the squad who can fill in for him.

Other foreign spinners Samuel Badree and Tabraiz Shamsi can be brought in strategically by dropping Watson if he doesn’t perform and bringing in an Indian batsman like Sachin Baby or Mandeep Singh and dropping an Indian spinner. Iqbal Abdullah is also in the squad who can replace Negi if he continues on his poor form of the last season.

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s final squad for IPL 2017

Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel, Mandeep Singh, Adam Milne, S Aravind, Kedar Jadhav, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Samuel Badree, Iqbal Abdulla, Travis Head, Sachin Baby, Avesh Khan, Tabraiz Shamsi, Pawan Negi, Tymal Mills, Aniket Choudhary, Praveen Dubey, Billy Stanlake.