IPL: 5 former RCB Players who shined for other franchises

RCB is one team out of all the IPL teams that has shown promise every season but ended up repeating the same slogan for the last 15 years – “Ee salaa cup namade” – without much glory. The main reason for that is the lack of faith shown by the management in the players. Every player wants the management and the captain to back them, especially when the going gets tough and RCB have just not been able to back the right players at the right time over the years.

RCB always had those right “Match-winning” players in their squad, but ended up giving them a shorter rope or just floating them around in the batting order without giving them a consistent run to prove their mettle. The fact of the matter is that, the players who were dumped by RCB went on to win the IPL title with other franchises. We will look at five such players who were loaded with potential and raw talent, but RCB ended up losing the diamond while chasing glitter.  

5 former RCB players who performed well for the other teams

 1.  KL Rahul 

In the 2016 Season, RCB looked like the most balanced side of all the years and was one of the favorites to win the title. KL Rahul had an important role to play at RCB, reaching the finals along with AB & Virat Kohli. Having scored 397 runs in 12 innings at a brisk strike rate of 146.49, Rahul was definitely a potential talent coming up the ranks.

While RCB retained Sarfaraz Khan over KL Rahul, the stylish batter left no stone unturned with his new franchise – Punjab, scoring 659 runs in 14 (IPL 2018) innings with an astonishing strike rate of 158 for someone who was predominantly known as a “Test” player.

Rahul broke the shackles thereafter with Punjab by becoming the second-highest scorer in IPL in the 2019 edition with 593 runs, including a ton. Rahul continued his rich vein of form in 2020 too, winning the Orange Cap with 670 runs with one century and five 50s. RCB will certainly be rethinking its strategy of letting Rahul go, who also had the potential of captaining the side in future.