The Royal Challengers Bengaluru showed their fans last year both sides of the coin. During the first seven games they won just one, while they won six out of their next seven to book a place in the Eliminator on net run rate.
Coming into this year’s edition with a more balanced squad on paper, will they be able to finally make a bid for their first-ever Indian Premier League title?
In this article, we take a look at five domestic players who can make a difference for the RCB this coming season.
Rasikh Salam
The talented bowler from Jammu & Kashmir was one of the most expensive acquisitions in the uncapped category during the 2025 mega auction, going for INR 6 crore following an intense battle between the Delhi Capitals and the Royal Challengers.
The 24-year-old bowler is a fairly unknown quantity in the IPL, though his impressive performances for the Capitals, controlling the death overs with his varied skill set, have made him one to watch out for. Salam was also impressive in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), where he bagged 11 wickets in seven innings going at an economy rate of 7.46.
With the RCB’s death-bowling struggles, Salam could become a solution to their problems.
Suyash Sharma
The Royal Challengers’ search for their next leg-break specialist has landed them Suyash Sharma this time round. Ever since Yuzvendra Chahal left them, the RCB have been looking for a dependable leg spinner. They tried both Wanindu Hasaranga and Karn Sharma, but to no avail. The 21-year-old himself has been under the cosh with underwhelming performances both in last year’s IPL and this season’s SMAT.
Following a breakthrough campaign in 2023, where he played ten games and picked up 11 wickets going at 8.23 runs per over, Sharma played just two games in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ title-winning run last year.
Being the only leg spinner in the current RCB squad, a lot will be riding on Sharma’s shoulders. Defending small boundaries at the Chinnaswamy has always been a challenge for any bowler, so it will be fascinating to witness how Sharma goes about tackling said challenge.
Yash Dayal
After the heartache and tears of 2023, 27-year-old Yash Dayal eradicated any insecurities by asserting himself as the lead bowler in the RCB attack and was the only bowler to be retained by the franchise (INR 5 crore) after Virat Kohli (INR 21 crore) and Rajat Patidar (INR 11 crore). The Allahabad-born bowler picked up 15 wickets and went at 9.15 runs per over last year, which is commendable considering half of his 14 appearances arrived at the Chinnaswamy.
Both of Dayal’s new-ball and death bowling have improved considerably, as was evident in the IPL last year. While he didn’t play in the SMAT, he played three Vijaya Hazare Trophy games for Uttar Pradesh, taking four wickets and going at just five runs per over.
With quality additions like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood, Yadav will have plenty of assistance this time around.
Jitesh Sharma
For a long time, the RCB have struggled with their middle batting order. They have made some quality additions this time around, though only time will tell if they all fit in.
In last year’s slow and tricky wickets at Mullanpur, Jitesh Sharma struggled to get going, ending a dismal IPL campaign with just 187 runs in 12 games at a strike rate of 132. However, this does not provide the full context for how well he has performed in the two previous years.
As a finisher for the Punjab Kings, Sharma scored 234 runs at a strike rate of 164 during the 2022 season. The following year, the 31-year-old wicketkeeper-batter scored 309 in 14 games at a strike rate of 156. Those were with long boundaries in Mohali; at the Chinnaswamy, both his volume of runs and strike rate can be expected to surge. The RCB have long been waiting for a dependable No. 5, and in Sharma they may have just found one.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Given the type of seamers they have invested in, it looks like the Royal Challengers are looking to stop teams going in the Powerplay as much as they can before matters get worse in the slog and death overs.
Both Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are new-ball specialists. Teams now understand how hard it is to defend targets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and so the RCB will look to exploit their home conditions with their new new-ball specialists.
Kumar, playing for the SunRisers Hyderabad last season, wasn’t really among the wickets. He picked up 11 wickets in 16 games and had a respectable economy rate of 9.3. However, unlike the flat pitches at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, the pitches at the Chinnaswamy have helped seamers in the past, at least with the new ball, so one can expect Kumar to pick up more scalps this time round.
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