Team 5 in Royal Challengers Bangalore. This team entered the auction in a bid to look for OS back ups and quality Indian middle order batter, preferably LHB. Did they do that? Let's find out and look at their squad shapes up.

Strengths:

I had my concerns over the RCB batting last IPL, but the way Faf has played spin this year, along with Patidar having a great season, and Kohli's encouraging showing in T20Is post Asia Cup means their Top 4 is still capable and has enough quality.

They have all 3 kinds of spin bowling covered in the XI. And their pace bowlers too have good potential. I strongly feel that Siraj's last season was an aberration and he'll be much better this season. They also have 3 OS pacers in their squad in Hazlewood, Willey & Topley.

Concerns:

Need wickets in the PP, and they should hope one of Shahbaz, Lomror, Prabhudessai or Manoj Bhandage has a good season with the bat. Their options to bat at 5 & 6.

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A lot has been written on Kohli's T20 game, and rightly so, because his performances haven't been great post the pandemic. However, post the Asia Cup, some change in his game has been evident. RCB would hope he keeps improving.

Threats:

I have my doubts on how Harshal would do in the next season, specially when half the matches would be in Chinnaswamy. And RCB's back ups are largely potential based and not proven players. A lot is going to ride on the first XI.

Players to look out for

RCB's scouting seems to have done great work as they have discovered someone like Avinash Singh who hasn't played any professional game yet. You can read this thread by CricEye and a thread by Mohsin Kamal to know more twitter.com/CricEyeT20/sta…

Playing XI

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