Season after season, Millions of Royal Challengers Bengaluru fans cross their fingers and say, “Ee Saala Cup Naamde” (This Year The Cup Is Ours). And season after season they end up being disappointed as RCB bottle the important matches and ends up losing the IPL title. For 17 seasons housing some of the biggest names in IPL history has still not bought home an IPL Trophy home ay Chinnaswamy.
And so, this time around the RCB think-tank chose a very different route to go about business at the recently concluded 2025 IPL Mega Auction. Instead of making a very batting-heavy RCB setup like they always have had in the past and going for big-money signings and star players, and then hoping that they’ll be enough to bail them out in difficult situations, RCB went for the “wait-and-watch” strategy instead. By the end of Day 1, it seemed as if all hope was lost for RCB, but they turned the situation around on Day 2 by making some very smart and strategic buys at the Mega Auction.
So today let’s do a SWOT ANALYSIS of the RCB squad for the 2025 IPL Season.
RCB SWOT Analysis: Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat
Strength: RCB’S Top 7
While they did go for a different approach in the Auction they didn’t desert their reputation for having one of the, if not the best and most destructive batting orders in the IPL. Yet again, RCB’s batting is their main strength. An opening combination of Phil Salt, the no. 2 ranked batsman in the world, with Virat Kohli is a great pairing to have at the top.
These 2 will be followed by Rajat Patidar, Liam Livingstone, Krunal Pandya, Jitesh Sharma and Tim David/ Jacob Betthel to round up RCB’s top 7. Jacob Betthel and Krunal Pandya, both left handers can play literally anywhere in that batting order. Giving them a favourable Right-Left combination on the pitch. Moreover, in Jitesh Sharma they have an excellent finisher down the order. Meanwhile Rajat Patidar and Liam Livingstone are excellent players of spin.
Weakness: RCB Lack Wicket-Taking Spin Options
While they have significantly strenghtened their bowling attack from the past seasons, one specific area in the bowling still remains their biggest weakness. In an otherwise well-rounded team, RCB have a lack of spinners who are proven wicket taking options.
Krunal Pandya, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Jacob Betthel and Liam Livingstone make up RCB’s spin department. While KP is certainly their lead spinner, even he is more of a control spinner than a wicket-taker.
Opportunities: A Revamped Pace-Bowling Unit At RCB
RCB may have let go of many players from last season. But they made sure that they have a great pace bowling unit that can bowl to the plan and restrict huge scores from the opposition. Keeping that in mind RCB have acquired the services of Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Two very experienced bowlers who will be a dream duo for any team working in tandem.
But RCB also have a surprise element up their sleeve. As backing up the two lead pacers will be Yash Dayal and Rasikh Salim Dar. It seems that RCB management have put a lot of trust in both these players and are looking at them as an investment for the present and the future.
Threats: The Biggest Threat RCB Have Is Their Home Stadium
More often than not it is the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore that comes back to bite RCB. For a home stadium, it has a very bad record for RCB. That is due to the fact that it’s almost impossible for bowlers to defend any kind of total over there since the very small relative size of the stadium coupled with the flat wickets that are ever-present.
With RCB lacking a good spin department in bowling, the M. Chinnaswamy stadium could prove to be a massive threat to the Bengaluru outfit as teams could pile on massive amount of runs during the middle overs.
Probable Starting XI
- Virat Kohli
- Phil Salt
- Rajat Patidar
- Jacob Bethell
- Liam Livingstone
- Krunal Pandya
- Jitesh Sharma
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar
- Rasikh Dar
- Yash Dayal
- Josh Hazlewood
Impact Subs: Devdutt Padikkal, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh
Do you think RCB had a successful auction? Will they win the IPL this time around? Will the slogan “Ee Saala Cup Naamde” finally come true? Let us know your opinion in the comments below.
