There is no doubt that Royal Challengers Bangalore has been one of the most popular franchises in the Indian Premier League over the years. The fans are crazy about this team and the major reason behind that is the presence of two of their favourite players, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.
However, despite all this popularity, their performance in the IPL has been quite underwhelming. Their best result came in 2016 when they reached the final and ended up being the runners-up. And last season, they finished right at the bottom of the table as well.
So, RCB hasn’t had the best of times in the tournament in spite of having two of the greatest batsmen in modern-day cricket in their ranks. And the reason behind that, as summed up by England all-rounder Moeen Ali, has been their overreliance on the two players.
“We need a good start. I think we always start slowly. We need to be brave, especially at home because the wicket in Bengaluru is very good. The boundaries are small over there and it’s very daunting for the bowlers,” Moeen told IANS on the sidelines of the ongoing Abu Dhabi T10 league.
“We cannot keep relying on Virat and AB de Villiers to win us games. Batters like myself and whomsoever is coming in, have to step up and bat well,” he added.
Ali is one of the only two overseas players retained by RCB this season. The franchise has released as many as 12 players while retaining 18 before the auction, which is set to be held in Kolkata on December 19.
Retained Players by RCB:
Virat Kohli, Moeen Ali, Yuzvendra Chahal, AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Pawan Negi, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Mann, Devdutt Padikkal, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini.