IPL 2020: 5 Players who left RCB and performed well for other franchises

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are a team which should have had at least a couple of titles in their trophy cabinet but currently have none. They are a team which have promised a lot year after year and shown glimpses of their brilliance though individual performances but have never been able to clinch the crucial moments of important games as a team.

While RCB’s performances haven’t been as they should have been, one of the main reasons for this is the continuous chopping and changing of players with no continuity in their squad. Every year RCB buy new players in the auction, who appear to be exciting prospects, but after a few bad games drop them from the eleven, which doesn’t help the player’s confidence or the team moral. Subsequently they are dropped from the squad .

Over 12 seasons, RCB are perhaps the team which have backed its players the least and have let them go after minor poor performances without identifying the true potential of the player. Hence it is not a mystery as to how players, who underperformed severely in RCB, went ahead and had fabulous seasons with other franchises.

Here we look at 5 players who left RCB and did well for other franchises: –

1. KL Rahul

Letting go of KL Rahul is a decision which RCB will regret the longest if they haven’t enough already. Rahul, who had started out more as a conventional Test player, showed what he was capable of in the shortest format when in 2016, he stepped up and scored heavily for RCB acting as the perfect foil to Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. He scored 397 runs in 14 games at a strike rate of 147. Unfortunately he had to miss the entire 2017 season due to an injury.

Despite that, Rahul had been in great form as an opener for India in 2017 in T20Is and before the 2018 mega auction Rahul was expected to be retained by RCB but to everyone’s astonishment they went for Sarfaraz Khan. As it turned out, Rahul’s demand was immense in the auction and RCB did not end up using their RTM card for him as he was eventually sold to Kings XI Punjab for a whopping 11 crores.

Rahul showed why he was so highly valued as in the 2018 and 2019 seasons he scored 659 and 593 respectively at a total at a strike rate of 146 including 12 50+ scores and one century in 28 games. With Rahul leading KXIP this year, RCB missed out on not just one of the best T20 batsmen currently, but also a future prospect for captaincy.

2. Quinton de Kock

When RCB picked up Quinton de Kock for just INR 2.8 crores in 2018, it was termed as one of the best buys of the auction. And not without reason, De Kock had established himself as one of the best wicketkeeper-batsmen in the last few years, especially in limited-overs cricket. And while he had missed the 2017 IPL, he had a great season with Delhi in 2016 where he had scored 445 runs in 13 games including a ton against RCB.

Despite everything going for him, de Kock just didn’t get enough games for RCB because of complications in the team balance. His place was either compromised due to presence of Brendon McCullum, another top-order overseas batsman, or due to need of an extra overseas bowler. Eventually, de Kock ended up playing just eight games scoring 201 runs.

While everyone expected de Kock to play bigger role in 2019, shockingly he was traded to Mumbai Indians at the same price before the start of the 2019 season. This decision was inexplicable as de Kock’s style of play suited the Bangalore pitches and with age being on his side, he was someone who could have served RCB for a long time. And as expected, de Kock was backed to the hilt in Mumbai Indians and he didn’t disappoint scoring 529 runs in 16 games and emerging as their top scorer in 2019.

3. Dinesh Karthik

One of India’s most unluckiest cricketers in the last couple of decades has been Dinesh Karthik. His career clashed with that of a certain MS Dhoni and he just never got enough opportunities for India. Nevertheless, he made his presence felt in the IPL. After playing for a number of franchises, Dinesh Karthik was roped in by RCB in 2015 for an astonishing 10.5 crores with the hopes of having a dependable and experienced middle-order player, who could control the innings in case the top three of Chris Gayle, Kohli and de Villiers failed.

It will always remain a mystery as to why it happened, but DK failed miserably that season. He could muster up only 141 runs in 11 innings without a single score of note. While in his defence, he got just 117 balls through the tournament, his strike rate of 120 doesn’t indicate he did the job of being a finisher either. RCB felt he wasn’t worth the massive money they had splurged on him and released him.

But after leaving RCB, DK was a different player altogether in the IPL. The next two seasons with Gujarat Lions he scored in excess of 330 runs both years and after being picked up by KKR in 2018 and appointed as captain, Dinesh had a dream season with 498 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 148. While in 2019 he wasn’t as successful with 253 runs in 12 innings but it was still miles ahead than his performance for RCB.

4. Moises Henriques

A player not talked about enough is Moises Henriques. He is a good all-rounder especially in the T20 format and has usually done well for whichever teams he has played for. While he didn’t do much in his initial couple of years in the IPL, when he was brought into the RCB setup in 2013, a lot was expected of the young man.

He had a decent season, scoring 165 runs in 10 matches and picking seven wickets. However, RCB felt this performance wasn’t good enough to keep Moises around and he was taken in by Sunrisers Hyderabad the following year. While he didn’t do much in 2014, in 2015-2017 he became the player RCB were looking for.

He scored 287, 182 and 277 runs in the upcoming years batting in the middle-order and picked up a total of 23 wickets in 2015 and 2016. He was an integral part of the Sunrisers’ outfit in their title winning year in 2016. Had RCB invested in Moises a bit more they could have reaped the benefits of a full-fledged all-rounder at his peak.

5. Shane Watson

Shane Watson, one of the MVP’s of the IPL right from the inception in 2008, spent most of his career in Rajasthan Royals before moving to RCB in  2016. The franchise spent a a huge sum of INR 9.5 crores. Watson was expected to be the link between the top-order and lower-middle order and provide assistance with his bowling to add strength to a relatively weak bowling attack.

While Watson just couldn’t get going with the bat the full season scoring just 179 runs in 16 games, he did a wonderful job with the ball, picking up 20 wickets. But his bowling came apart as well in the finals when Ben Cutting took him down with massive blows and scored 24 of the last over which eventually made the difference as SRH won by eight runs. Nevertheless, Watson continued being with RCB in 2017.

He was also appointed the skipper in the initial games during Kohli’s absence. However, his struggles continued in 2017 and he could score only 71 runs in eight matches, picking five wickets and with RCB, feeling he was a spent force, he was let into the pool. CSK swopped in on Watson in 2018 and with the Men in Yellow, Watson performed like a beast.

While he didn’t bowl much in 2018 he scored a bucket load of runs, with an aggregate of 555 in 15 games which included a scintillating match-winning innings of 117* in the finals. In 2019 once again he a had a decent enough season, scoring 398 runs in 17 matches, and almost single-handedly helping CSK win a second consecutive title.