RCB: The retention window in the Indian Premier League was closed yesterday, and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise of this cash-rich league tournament retained Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Yash Dayal while releasing veteran player like Faf Du Plessis, who was also the skipper of their franchise side.
With Du Plessis, RCB has also released Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Siraj, Glenn Maxwell, Anuj Rawat, Saurav Chauhan, Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Bhandage, Tom Curran, Will Jacks, Cameron Green, Mahipal Lomror, Suyash Prabhudessai, Akash Deep, Mayank Dagar, Lockie Ferguson, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Siraj, Rajan Kumar, Himanshu Sharma, Karn Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Reece Topley, and Vijaykumar Vyshak.
The dates, time, and venue for the IPL 2025 auction are yet to be announced. However, according to reports in the news and media, the auctions will be a two-day affair and might be hosted in Saudi Arabia. Now that RCB hasn’t retained Faf Du Plessis, they will look for a new captain for the upcoming season.
In This Segment Today, We Shall Name The Five Choices Who RCB Might Consider As Their Next Skipper –
1. Shreyas Iyer –
The young middle-order batter of the Indian Team has done well as a leader in IPL. He was the one who took Delhi to their maiden playoffs and finals in back-to-back seasons. He also won an IPL title as the skipper of KKR. But despite his achievements, Shreyas Iyer was released by both the franchises.
Now DC and KKR’s loss might be RCB’s gain, only if they buy Shreyas Iyer in their upcoming auctions. In the title-winning season of KKR, Iyer had scored 351 runs from 14 matches with two half-centuries to his name. RCB can invest in Shreyas as a future prospect as well. With captaincy, RCB will also get a reliable middle-order batter in Shreyas Iyer.
2. Glenn Maxwell –
The middle-order dasher and the spin bowler of the Aussie didn’t have an ideal season in IPL 2024 and that’s why he was released from the RCB team. Maxi had a tough time with the Punjab Kings in the earlier seasons. But he did a decent job for RCB after that. Maxwell also captained the PBKS side.
But nothing worked for him even as a player later on. The IPL 2021 to 2023 editions were the turning points in Maxi’s IPL career when he played for RCB. Maxwell can still recalled and this time RCB should name him as a skipper for the IPL 2025 edition.
3. Rishabh Pant –
The flamboyant wicketkeeper batter has been left out of the Delhi Capitals franchise. Rishabh Pant can lead the RCB side and he can also be the wicketkeeper for their franchise side as well. Pant’s captaincy is still a work in progress. But he needs just one chance which would prove that he has the captaincy material in him.
4. Jos Buttler –
England’s T20 World Cup-winning skipper, Jos Buttler played for the Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians as well. For the double R’s, the Royal Buttler scored tons of runs and took them to the finals of the IPL 2022 season, which was just the second time that the inaugural champions reached an IPL final.
Buttler scored the most runs of that season, 863 runs from 17 matches. He also equalled King Kohli’s record of smashing four centuries in a single season. But RR didn’t win their second trophy and last year, Jos the Boss smashed 359 runs from 11 matches. If RCB wants a foreign player as their skipper then they can buy Buttler in the upcoming auctions.
5. Virat Kohli –
The King has been retained by the RCB franchise and possibly he might be seen leading the side once again. Kohli had led the RCB franchise from 2013 to 2021. But he didn’t win a single trophy in these years and RCB qualified for the finals only once in Kohli’s tenure.
Still, RCB can go with Kohli as their most experienced leader and they shouldn’t forget that Virat has also captained the Indian team in the International cricket arena. King Kohli has also amassed the most runs as the skipper in the IPL. He has scored 4810 runs as the skipper of this trophyless franchise side.
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