IPL 2018: Five Players Royal Challengers Bangalore Could Retain

With policies regarding players’ retention policy in Indian Premier League (IPL) being already made public by the Governing Committee of the Twenty20 competition, the Royal Challengers Bangalore is expected to spring a surprise or two in the 2018 edition.

With Bangalore all set to retain their star cricketers, they management would be aiming to have a balanced squad.

Having picked quality players and more sort of the balanced squads in the previously held editions, the RCB is yet to lift the IPL title while availing the services of star-studded players.

Having the home ground of M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, the RCB has made it thrice to the final of the IPL between 2009 and 2016.

With three players being made available for the retention, RCB in the 10th edition was reduced to 49 to become the team which is holding the record of scoring highest total (263 for five).

As the competition is played under the tutelage of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the player retention policy was finalized by the IPL Governing Committee.

The new policy revealed the 2018 lucrative IPL league would further be included with the Right to Match (RTM) cards.

While shedding about the pre-auction, the maximum of three players could be picked in a bid to make most of the quality players.

Interestingly, for the eleventh edition of IPL, all the eight teams each can pick the maximum of eight overseas players which was nine in number in the tenth edition of the IPL, as the trophy was lifted by Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians.

So much so, the two Indian uncapped players also fall into the category of the newly-released retention policy.

Here’s the list of five players RCB could retain for professional T20 league:

Virat Kohli:

Being in the red-hot form, Virat Kohli has been the man to shoulder the responsibility for the Men in Red apart from being a leader.

Kohli is the man of the crisis and has registered records after another in the past which further forced the RCB management to set focus.

Yuzvendra Chahal:

The wily customer Yuzvendra Chahal has a decent 10th edition with the ball and is expected to get picked up owing to his ability to claim wickets.

Chris Gayle:

The left-handed batsman Chris Gayle has literally been a nightmare for the bowlers during his form with the bat. The swashbuckling opener Gayle is the crowd-favourite and has further pile-up miseries for the bowlers.

Having the ability to change the complexion of the game, Gayle has had cherished his time at his home away from home.

AB de Villiers:

The right-handed batsman AB de Villiers is another strong contender to be picked for the IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore as one of the two allowed and retained players list.

Having all the shots in his book de Villiers has been an integral part of RCB family.

Even after failing to leave an impact in the 2016 edition, de Villiers owing to his ability to flay the quality bowling line-up and saving runs during the fielding would keep the team management busy with the papers before rushing for the IPL Players’ Auction 2017.