IPL: 5 Players Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) can retain after AB de Villiers' retirement

AB de Villiers’ sudden decision to retire from all forms of cricket might just be a bittersweet moment for his Indian Premier League franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore. At one end of the spectrum, the franchisee will be losing one of its legendary performers, who has been a stalwart and a regular performer for them. 

On the other end of it, RCB now has an opportunity to make proper retention of players, with whom they can plan for the next three or four years. At 37, there was no guarantee that ABD was going to push till the next mega auction. And in that case, RCB could have potentially wasted one retention.

Having said that, here are the 5 Players RCB can retain instead of AB de Villiers

1. Harshal Patel

For several years, Harshal Patel was on the sidelines of two different franchises in the IPL. He was part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore team between 2012 and 2017 and then moved to Delhi Capitals for seasons between 2018 and 2020. However, his breakthrough season only happened in the year 2021 as he was approaching the age of 31. 

Earlier this year, he created history by equaling the record of most wickets in any season by an individual bowler. He finished with 32 wickets with an average of 14.34 and a strike rate of 10.56, which basically means right through the season he was picking a wicket in every two overs. That is some insane level stats. He also managed a hat-trick.

But, most importantly, he solved one issue which has been plaguing the RCB team for more than a few years, death bowling. If he manages to keep his form up in the upcoming season, he might actually help RCB win a title.

It should be noted that in 2015, he finished with 17 wickets in 15 matches for the same franchise but played only five matches and picked up one wicket in the next season. So, it would be interesting to see RCB can trust him yet again.