Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have been one of the more inconsistent sides in the history of the Indian premier League (IPL) so far. They have reached the final twice, but failed to win it on both occasions. They had a golden chance to make it to the final last year, but lost their qualifier match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by just two runs. The auction will be very crucial for this team. They have been overly dependent on the likes of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle to get them runs at the top of the innings. With a shadow of doubt over Mitchell Starc’s fitness, RCB will have to make a few smart buys in the auction. READ: IPL 2016 teams: List of players retained by IPL 9 teams before Indian Premier League auction
Captain: Currently ranked No. 1 in the ICC T20I rankings, Kohli has taken his game in the shortest format to another level. In India’s recent series against Australia, Kohli finished with scores of 91 not out, 59 not out, and 50. He also recently went past the 5,000-run mark in T20s, which not many cricketers around the world have achieved. Kohli was handed Test captaincy too recently and in a short span of time, he seems to have adapted to the role very well. He has led RCB to victories in 27 out of the 56 matches he has captained. READ: IPL 2016 auction: Complete list of IPL players to be auctioned with base prices
Owners and backroom staff: The United Breweries (UB) group, belonging to Vijay Mallya is the owner of RCB. His son Sidhartha Mallya acts as the Director of the team and along with his father can be spotted at many IPL matches. Brijesh Patel serves as the CEO with Avinash Vaidya being the Team Manager. Former New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori is the head coach of the team. Vettori heads the coaching team, which consists of Allan Donald as the bowling coach and Trent Woodhill as the batting & fielding coach. READ: IPL 2016 auction: Complete list of IPL teams with funds before auction
Home Ground: RCB will play all their home matches at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. RCB have won 21 out of the 38 matches they have played at this stadium, which gives them a win percentage of 55.26. The city is known to have the most passionate cricket fans in the country and the organisers cater to the fans’ needs when they arrive to the stadium. The fans are provided with cheer kits, RCB flags and noisemakers as well. During IPL 2014, RCB also became the first team to provide their fans with free Wi-Fi in the stadium.
Best finish: RCB have finished runners-up twice. The first time was in the second edition in South Africa, when they lost to Deccan Chargers in the final. In 2011, they lost to CSK in the final. READ:IPL 2016 teams: List of players released by IPL 9 teams before Indian Premier League auction
Most expensive players: Yuvraj Singh, who was brought for a whooping Rs, 14 crores in the 2014 auction is the team’s most expensive player. He was however released in the following season. Dinesh Karthik was then purchased for Rs. 10.5 crores in the following year’s auction.
Funds remaining for 2016 auction: RCB will have a total of Rs. 21,62,50,000 remaining in their kitty. They will look to use it wisely and hope that RCB can clinch their maiden title this time around. READ: IPL 2016 Royal Challengers Bangalore Team and Squad: List of players retained by RCB
Retained players: Kohli, de Villiers, Gayle, Adam Milne and Starc have been retained by the franchise. Other Indian talents like Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal and Harshal Patel too find themselves retained.
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