Continuing with our SWOT analysis for franchises playing in IPL 2021, today we have prepared an in-depth SWOT Analysis of Royal Challengers Bangalore. The Kohli-led RCB has been one of the most popular teams in the history of IPL although the team has never won the silverware; it has come close to snatching it away and subsequently created a fan base that never gives up on it.
Also read: IPL 2021: SWOT analysis of 5-times IPL Champions Mumbai Indians
For 2021, the team released most of their players, except for the usual suspects like AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Kane Richardson and a few more. Let’s look at the entire squad of RCB for the 2021 edition of IPL:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 2021 Squad:
Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Kane Richardson, Washington Sundar, Pavan Deshpande, Joshua Philippe, Shahbaz Ahamad, Navdeep Saini, Adam Zampa, Kyle Jamieson, Glenn Maxwell, Rajat Patidar, Sachin Baby, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Dan Christian, KS Bharat, Suyash Prabhudessai, Daniel Sams, Harshal Patel.
Royal Challengers Bangalore SWOT Analysis
Royal Challengers Bangalore Strengths – Phenomenal batting unit
The Kohli-led RCB has had one of the most phenomenal batting lineups in the IPL history. With Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers leading from the front, the team was unstoppable at its best days. Even without Gayle, the team still has star-studded batting line up with Virat Kohli, who’s in a great form after the Ind VS Eng series, AB de Villiers, Joshua Philippe and KS Bharat. Other than the Mighty-4, the team also signed three all-rounders this year: Daniel Sams, Harshal Patel and Washington Sundar. These 3 players can also come to the middle and get their team racing to the 200+ score.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Weaknesses – Inexperienced fast bowlers
While the RCB possesses a very dominating batting-line up, on the flipside it however lacks a fast-bowing attack that it may need when the going gets tough. RCB spent most of its purse amount this year on Kyle Jamieson and made him the most expensive overseas player for its team. The 6 foot 6 inches tall New Zealand bowler has not played any T20 game ever in India so far, and hence it can’t be said for certain that he can be on his lethal best on the Indian soil. Meanwhile right-arm fast bowler Kane Richardson has only played 14 matches in his entire IPL career and taken only 18 wickets. More importantly, his bowling average, 8.38, states that he is an expensive bowler. Navdeep Saini, another player that RCB took a leap of faith for, has only taken 17 wickets in his 26 matches with expensive bowling average of 8.28. The only saving grace for RCB can come in form of Mohommed Siraj, who had an incredible outing at Australia during the Border Gavaskar series.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Opportunities – Washington Sundar, KS Bharat
This year, Washington Sundar had an incredible outing, first at Gabba, where the all-rounder had a match defining 62-run stand with Shardul Thakur, and then in India against England, where he played a 96-run inning. Virat Kohli would be assessing the young off-spinner’s mettle during the course of IPL, and if he performs as well as he has recently, he can cement his position in the Indian cricket team.
Meanwhile, KS Bharat is yet to make his International debut for his team so far. The wicket-keeper batsman has played for the Andhra cricket team. Although his name gets overshadowed by other prominent names, hardcore cricket fans know him as the first wicket-keeper batsman to score a triple hundred in Ranji trophy. If KS gets his A-game on and performs to the liking of his team, he too may join the likes of wicket-keeper batsman like Rishabh Pant for the spot of wicket-keeper in ODIs and T20.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Threats – Inconsistent IPL form that plagues Glenn Maxwell
The Australian hard-hitter is also one of the most surprising cases in IPL history. Known for being a fearless hitter with the stroke playing talent of Gilchrist and power of Symonds, he was signed by KXIP for one simple reason: to turn the boat around when it’s about to wreck. However, the Maxwell has failed to do so, repeatedly. He was bought by KXIP for a whopping Rs. 10.75 crores in IPL 2020, but failed to live up to his team’s expectations, scoring only 58 runs in 7 matches. If Maxwell carries on with his inconsistent IPL fairing, RCB could be in big trouble for relying on him.
