Chasing elusive title

Possessing three of the most dangerous batsmen in the world, it’s quite puzzling how the star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore have come up short in their quest for glory. Having the likes Chris Gayle, A B de Villiers and Virat Kohli should give sleepless nights for opposition bowlers but the inability of the team to cross that final hurdle has eventually left their fans disappointed.

The Challengers, who have finished runners-ups on three occasions, will once again kick-start their search for glory with pretty much the same strike force although there’s not much clarity on the availability of Kohli for the early part of the event due to his shoulder injury. Despite that, RCB appear heavy on batting with India regulars K L Rahul and Kedar Jadhav very much capable of producing match-winning knocks.

With bubbly youngster Sarfaraz Khan and all-rounders Shane Watson and Stuart Binny in their ranks, RCB no doubt will once again be relying on their batting prowess. While RCB have mostly had a sound batting unit, they have seldom pieced together a potent bowling unit that is equally important for success. They did well at this year’s auction, roping in England’s T20 specialist Tymal Mills as a replacement for Aussie Mitchell Starc.

They also picked up Aniket Choudhary and Billy Stanlake and all-rounders Pawan Negi and Praveen Dubey, adding enough muscle to their bowling set-up. With left-arm pacer S Arvind and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal already in their ranks, they finally appear a good attack.

Past performances: 2016: Runners-up; 2015: 3rd place: 2014: 7th place; 2013: 5th place; 2012: 5th place; 2011: Runners-up; 2010: 3rd place; 2009: Runners-up; 2008: 7th place.

The squad: Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli (capt), AB de Villiers, K L Rahul, Shane Watson, Kedar Jadhav, Sarfaraz Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Iqbal Abdulla, Tymal Mills, S Arvind, Avesh Khan, Samuel Badree, Stuart Binny, Aniket Choudhary, Praveen Dubey, Travis Head, Mandeep Singh, Adam Milne, Pawan Negi, Harshal Patel, Sachin Baby, Tabraiz Shamsi, Billy Stanlake.