IPL 2022: SWOT Analysis of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)

The Royal Challengers Bangalore made some smart buys at the IPL 2022 mega auction as they invested heavily in overseas and domestic talents alongside some veteran players. While they released the likes of promising batter Devdutt Padikkal and wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, they made some new additions by welcoming Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood, veteran South African batter Faf du Plessis, Sri Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga and  West Indies sensation Sherfane Rutherford to name a few. Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, and Mohammed Siraj were their retentions months ahead of the two-day bidding event.

Despite being a strong team on paper, RCB have always failed to live up to the expectations all these years and are yet to win an IPL crown, having made three final appearances in 2009, 2011, and 2016 respectively. They would be hoping to go the distance this time around. As the Bengaluru-based franchise look forward to rewriting history with their current batch that looks promising, here’s all you need to know about the team ahead of IPL 2022.

IPL 2022: Strengths, Weaknesses, and other key factors of RCB

Strengths: With a lethal pace attack, Bangalore would not be having a problem of making it matter at the death overs this time. Mohammed Siraj would be expected to share the new ball with Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood. At the same time, there will also be some much-needed support from the likes of Harshal Patel, Australian quick Jason Behrendorrf, Siddharth Kaul and England left-arm pacer David Willey.

Weaknesses: ‘Mr.360’ AB de Villiers had shockingly announced his retirement from all forms of the game last November and therefore, was unavailable for the IPL 2022. This means the RCB would miss a batter who can score at a brisk rate in the middle and death overs with consistency. Hence, there will be more responsibilities on Glenn Maxwell’s shouders.

Opportunities: With Virat Kohli already having relinquished captaincy after leading the franchise for nine seasons, his successor would now have an opportunity to take the team’s standards to a whole new level, starting this year. Hence, a championship glory in the 15th edition of the marquee tournament would certainly be a blessing in disguise.

Threats: RCB must hope that batting megastar Virat Kohli performs consistently throughout the tournament. In case, he remains off-colored, the pressure would be transferred to Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik and Faf du Plessis. In case, Karthik also faisl to make an impact on the 22 yards, Faf would need to single-handedly take care of the top-order and if he does not score big runs at crucial junctures, the middle-order would be left guessing early on.