The Indian Premier League (IPL) has for the past decade provided some incredible moments in the history of T20 cricket, as well as some controversies. In the midst of this chaos, some friendships have been forged such as Steve Smith and Ajinkya Rahane, and AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has for the past decade provided some incredible moments in the history of T20 cricket, as well as some controversies. In the midst of this chaos, some friendships have been forged such as Steve Smith and Ajinkya Rahane, and AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli.
Recently, Brendon McCullum, who has had stints with Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Lions and now Royal Challengers Bangalore, expressed his delight to be playing alongside Kohli and de Villiers.
Taking to Twitter, McCullum said, “Very very happy to be joining up with @RCBTweets. In @imVkohli and @ABdeVilliers17, they are two blokes I have dreamed of playing with!”
To this, de Villiers immediately replied, “Oh man, gonna be loads of fun! Can’t wait, Baz.”
The RCB team comprises Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Brendon McCullum, Tim Southee, Chris Woakes, Parthiv Patel, Umesh Yadav, Quinton de Kock, Manan Vohra, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Moeen Ali, Sarfaraz Khan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Mandeep Singh, Aniruddha Joshi, Pavan Deshpande, Yuzvendra Chahal, Aniket Choudhary, Murugan Ashwin, Pawan Negi, Colin de Grandhomme, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar and Mohammed Siraj.
In this year's auction, RCB has tried to keep its core intact. Hence it retained the marquee players Kohli and de Villiers and also young exciting talent Sarfraz. By Right To Match (RTM), it has retained Chahal and Negi, who have shown great tact in bowling in the Chinnaswamy pitch, which is a complete batting paradise. on Day 1, RCB made some big acquisitions buying McCullum, de Kock and Grandhomme, alongside Umesh, Chahal and quality allrounders like Moeen Ali and Woakes. It needed Indian firepower to supplement Kohli's aggression. On Day 2, it managed to do it beautifully.
Overall, RCB has strong Indian batting core with Kohli, Patel, Mandeep in the mix. The foreign batting stars include de Villiers, Moeen Ali, Grandhomme, McCullum, de Kock. There are quality allrounders in Woakes and Washington Sundar. Assuming RCB initially start by playing de Villiers, Woakes, de Kock and McCullum, the Indian bowlers have to chip in. RCB is not short of firepower in the Indian bowling department with likes of Siraj, Umesh, Saini and Anirudh Choudhary in the team.
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 "Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Brendon McCullum make up a strong RCB unit")
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