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Ee Sala Cup Namde? These five players could have turned RCB's fortunes if retained

The biggest glaring mistake in RCB batting lineup is heavyweight put at the top and no one in middle order; they have to balance the batting line up by mixing up and putting ABD to strengthen middle order and finish matches where he can be lethal.

Ee Sala Cup Namde? These five players could have turned RCB's fortunes if retained

This is typical RCB: over-reliant on 2-3 players. RCB has always been one of the best batting sides in any IPL. Their batting line-up boasts of players such as Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers, Chris Gayle, Shane Watson among others. More often than not, the big players perform for RCB and single-handedly win matches for the team. However, this season the bigger names have not performed consistently. This has hurt the team badly.

Now coming to their bowling attack, only Yuzvendra Chahal has been a consistent performer for the team so far this season. He hasn’t received much support from his fellow bowling partners. RCB has never been a team with the best bowling attack in the tournament. They have always looked up to their batsmen to provide huge scores for the bowling attack to defend or to chase down huge scores conceded by the bowling attack. Since the batting line-up is not firing on all cylinders, the bowling line-up is coming under even more pressure which they are not able to withstand.

Here are five players that the RCB will rue letting go.

KL Rahul

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Source: ESPNcricinfo

Not retaining a talent like KL Rahul is beyond the ordinary cricketing brain but RCB didn't use their second chance to save the special one and bring back him in the squad. KL Rahul can bat at any position from one to five and can also keep the wickets especially in the shorter formats. Royal Challengers Bangalore didn't really have any other better options to use RTM card than the Karnataka lad. He could have brought the stability to the batting line-up and then RCB could have built the team around Virat, ABD and KL.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

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Source: Cricket Panchayat

Bhuvneshwar is a calm and composed person which is essential for the team when they are in a difficult situation. He has a deep understanding of the game, and he knows how to use his bowling prowess.

After RCB let him go, he joined Pune Warriors and Sunrisers Hyderabad subsequently, where he established himself on the bigger stage. Kumar has proved to be one of the most successful fast bowlers in the IPL, winning the purple cap on two consecutive occasions for the SRH in 2016 and 2017.

Robin Uthappa

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Source: India TV

One of the many positive outcomes of the IPL was that it allowed domestic cricketers, who were not a part of the national team setup, to improve their game and prove their worth by virtue of their performance in the league. The case of Robin Uthappa is an example of such an occurrence, a player who started off with the Mumbai Indians, moved on to Royal Challengers Bangalore and then to Pune Warriors after he eventually settled at Eden Gardens as part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad since 2014.

Uthappa managed to win the orange cap during his first year itself for the KKR outfit where he scored 660 runs over the course of the tournament. Most of that success came when he was paired with former skipper Gautam Gambhir as an opener. 

Manish Pandey

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Source: NDTV Sports

Manish Pandey has been a crucial batsman for several IPL franchises in his career, the Royal Challengers Bangalore being one of them. Pandey first played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2009.

Manish Pandey has been a consistent performer in the IPL over the years and was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 11 crore. The Karnataka batsman did not get the chance to show his charisma in the first match but failed to get going in the next two matches as well. He has scored only 15 runs in the tournament so far at a strike rate of 78.94.

Chris Gayle

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Source: IPLT20.com

He is the first player to have scored a century in international Twenty20 cricket; the only man to score seven or more tons in the Twenty20 format, and is the leading six-hitter in Twenty20s. This Jamaican batsman is all about power and brute force. Besides playing for his home team, Jamaica, in the Caribbean Twenty20 competition and the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, Gayle struts his stuff for various T20 franchises around the world.

He has enjoyed success everywhere he’s played, as no boundary or total is beyond his reach. The big man from the Caribbean is also a safe catcher and a handy off-spinner. In three years he has donned the RCB cap, Gayle has single-handedly won matches for them. Remember the 2012 season?

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