Royal Challengers Bangalore Preview 2022

Royal Challengers Bangalore Betting

Royal Challengers Bangalore are one of cricket’s biggest mysteries. How is it possible that a side featuring (and often captained by) Virat Kohli, who over the IPL seasons has had some of T20’s best exponents in it…can fail so miserably year after year?

We’ll work that out in due course, as well as predict whether, in terms of live cricket satta rates, things could be any different this year.

There’s certainly a big change within the team for 2022: Virat Kohli resigned the RCB captaincy midway through the 2021 IPL season and South African former national skipper Faf Du Plessis takes over.

Du Plessis is a player fresh from winning the 2021 IPL title with CSK, where he was man-of-the-match in the final, against KKR. Let’s see if the change of captaincy changes results on the field.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore best odds

If you’re looking for some IPL online betting, you’ll be interested to know that RCB are 8.0 with Pure Win to secure what would be their first-ever IPL title, after so many years of trying.

But it’s almost come to the point that it doesn’t matter what odds RCB are to win the IPL because cricket punters have had their fingers burnt so many times with them over the years. They can certainly be forgiven for losing faith.

But maybe the change of captaincy allied with the big reshuffle in teams’ squads ahead of the 2022 season is exactly what RCB needed.

It’s a chance for them to start from scratch rather than persevering with a squad that always looked a bit unbalanced, a little too batting-heavy.

But those who want to back RCB for IPL glory should remember that as big a change as it is to shift from Kohli to Du Plessis as regards the captaincy, it’s almost as big that they’ll be without Bangalore legend AB de Villiers in the ranks.

The South African ace batsman chose to retire from all cricket a few months ago.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore Predictions

Royal Challengers Bangalore match predictions will be available for every game right here. You can get betting tips for all their games completely free!

Check out our guide on the fastest withdrawal betting sites to get your winnings quickly. Below, you will find today’s cricket match prediction tips for all of the RCB games during the IPL.

Today’s RCB match predictions

Has Royal Challengers Bangalore won the IPL before?

No, and that’s the whole point. Most seasons they have as good a batting line-up as anyone else but they’ve always lacked the necessary balance in the side and come short when it comes to their bowlers performing.

They have however finished as runners-up on two occasions. In the second edition of the IPL in 2009, they finished third in the Group Stages.

They got the better of Chennai Super Kings in the semi, thanks to a well-timed 48 off 35 from a (then) very young Manish Pandey, which allowed them to chase 147 pretty comfortably.

In the final, Anil Kumble bowled out of his skin with figures of 4/16 to restrict Deccan Chargers to a somewhat low total of 143. However, that proved too many runs anyway, Bangalore falling six short.

Kumble was man-of-the-match despite being on the losing side. In 2016 they finished second in the Group Stages, beating the Gujarat Lions comfortably in the semi.

Despite valiant efforts from Chris Gayle and Kohli, they couldn’t quite chase down Hyderabad’s 208 in the final. It was yet another example of the bowlers letting the side down by conceding such a huge total.

RCB Performance 2021

RCB put in a pretty decent Group Stage performance, winning nine and losing five. But crucially, their net run rate was worse than CSK’s, who finished second.

Rather than having two chances at making the final, the fact they finished third meant their next three matches were all-or-nothing affairs where they couldn’t afford to lose.

And lose they did, at the first time of asking.

In the Eliminator, posting just 138/7 mostly thanks to a hard-working knock of 39 off 33 from Virat Kohli, KKR got there in the end with just two balls to spare, meaning RCB were out.

Their two stand-out players for the season were Glenn Maxwell and Harshal Patel.

Maxwell top-scored for them with 513 runs in 15 matches over the course of the season and also picked up three man-of-the-match awards. He also scored more fifties (six) than anyone else in the side and hit the most sixes (21), too.

Patel was a real revelation with the ball.

He’d had a quiet time of it in the IPL ever since taking 17 wickets back in 2015, but last year he took 32, to end as the top wicket-taker for the whole of the IPL. He picked up one man-of-the-match award, after taking 5-27 in his first game.

RCB performance 2020

If we were to give RCB a mark for their performance last season, it would be a 6/10. They did do the absolute minimum by making the Playoffs, albeit by the skin of their teeth. They were one of three teams on 14 points and were just fortunate to have a better net run rate than Kolkata Knight Riders, who were unlucky to miss out.

But that’s as good as it got for them. In the Eliminator against SRH, they posted just 131/7 on a tricky pitch and though they took early wickets, a 50 from Kane Williamson saw the Sunrisers Hyderabad side home and RCB knocked out.

All season they struggled with team balance, first giving Dale Steyn a run in the side as an overseas bowler with poor results, and then not getting the best out of Adam Zampa, either.

Yuzvendra Chahal was once again their top bowler by a mile and surprisingly, their top scorer with the bat was not Kohli or De Villiers but rather, Devdutt Padikkal.

RCB performance 2019

They finished last. They won five out of 13 completed matches and ended on the same 11 points as Rajasthan Royals, albeit with a worse net run rate.

That included losing each and every one of their first six matches meaning they were pretty much out of the running before the halfway mark.

It was the usual two getting the runs with Kohli and de Villiers both breaking the 400-run mark for the season but with the exception of Parthiv Patel, no one else really got going with the bat.

With the ball, Yuzvendra Chahal was their top wicket-taker with 18 but like everyone else, was expensive.

Once again, as is the story of RCB’s history, the bowlers’ poor performances gave the batsmen too much to do.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore Facts

Royal Challengers Bangalore Facts

  • RCB scored the highest total in the IPL history – 263/5 in the 2013 edition against Pune Warriors. Chris Gayle scored a sensational 175 runs in that game.
  • Interestingly, they have also scored the lowest total in the IPL – this happened in the IPL 2017 when they scored 49 in 9.4 overs.
  • RCB skipper Virat Kohli has scored the most runs in the Indian Premier League – a remarkable 6,283 runs.
  • Kohli also holds the record for scoring the most number of runs in a single season – 973 runs.
  • Royal Challengers Bangalore is also the first team to provide free Wi-Fi in their home stadium in Bengaluru.
  • RCB have an awful record against CSK, winning just nine out of 28 matches against them.
  • But they have a strong record against Delhi, winning 15 out of their 27 games against them.

RCB Full Squad 2021

Retained Players: Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammad Siraj.

Likely XI: du Plessis, Kohli, Ahmed, Maxwell, Karthik, Hasaranga, Patel, Sharma, Siraj, Hazlewood, Kaul.

Position Players
Batsmen: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Finn Allen.
All-rounders: Glenn Maxwell, Hasaranga de Silva, David Willey, Sherfane Rutherford, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mahipal Lomror
Wicket-keepers: Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat
Spinners: Karn Sharma
Fast Bowlers: Harshal Patel, Mohammad Siraj, Josh Hazlewood, Siddarth Kaul, Jason Behrendoff, Akash Deep

A crown representing the captain at RCB

Captain: Faf du Plessis 

Faf has done it all in cricket. He’s been a middle-order rock for South Africa in all formats, he’s captained his country in the three formats, played in overseas leagues like the CPL and PSL and played at World Cups.

But over the years he’s also played plenty of IPL cricket, appearing for the Rising Pune Super Giants and then enjoying a long stint at CSK, where he won the IPL twice under MS Dhoni.

In exactly 100 IPL matches, he averages 34.94 and hit 22 fifties, though his first IPL century still eludes him. Last season he ended as the IPL’s second highest runscorer with only team-mate Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of him.

And it’s this experience and all these runs that made RCB bid for him and also make him skipper. He’ll surely open the batting for them but it will be his captaincy that everyone will be keeping tabs on.

A trophy representing the gun player for RCB

Gun player: Glenn Maxwell 

After a couple of very indifferent seasons at Punjab, many thought that Maxwell just wasn’t cut for the IPL anymore.  But think again. Having cost RCB big money ahead of the 2021 season, he did everything that was asked of him.

He scored over 500 runs and bowled well when he was asked to, also picking up three wickets for the season. As stated already, he won three man-of-the-match awards during the season, proof of his ability to have a huge impact on games.

He then won the T20 World Cup with Australia and earlier this year hit the highest-ever individual score in the Big Bash while playing for the Melbourne Stars: 145 not out.

And he’ll have a huge role to play here again, which is why RCB were desperate to retain him. He’ll bat at three or four, bowl occasionally and will surely field brilliantly, as per usual.

A medal representing the promising youngster at RCB

Promising youngster: Hasaranga de Silva 

At 24 he’s not exactly a youngster but he’s still young enough, given the likes of Kohli (33), Maxell (33) and Du Plessis are almost 10 years older than him.

Leg-spinner Hasaranga has been good for Sri Lanka in ODIs since making his debut but it’s in T20 that he’s really found his cricketing home, thanks to some outstanding performances.

His 57 wickets in 35 T20I appearances for his country is a superb record and earlier this year he was ranked the ICC’s Number 1 bowler in T20Is, helped by the fact he was the top wicket-taker at the T20 World Cup in 2021.

Played a couple of matches at the back end of last season for RCB but this time round much is expected of him after being re-bought for 10.25 Crore.

Will have a role to play with the bat as well but it’s lots of wickets and a good economy rate with the ball that RCB are really interested in.

You can read more about Hasaranga in this article about five lesser-known IPL players to watch.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Team Analysis

One thing is for sure: RCB can be quite grateful that Kohli resigned as skipper because they would have been in an awkward position if he hadn’t.

They wouldn’t have wanted him to lead once again after so many failures and they wouldn’t have wanted to sack him as the golden boy of RCB and Indian cricket, either.

All of which makes the signing of Du Plessis look an excellent one.

Not only will he have fresh ideas to go with his huge IPL experience but he also solves a problem at the top of the order, an area of concern ever since Chris Gayle was at his peak for them a few years ago.

The squad looks solid with overseas men du Plessis, Maxwell, Hasaranga and (presumably) Josh Hazlewood filling in important roles as opening batsman, top order all-rounder, spinning all-rounder and fast bowler respectively.

Expect each of those four to win some matches for RCB single-handedly. But the lower middle-order doesn’t look particularly strong and they may have an issue with Kohli himself.

They’ll probably have no choice but to open with him but his strike rate over the last couple of years has been just 121 and 119, which is too low.

Either he’s more aggressive and scores quicker or they’ll have to bat him somewhere else.

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A tick to represent the strengths of Royal Challengers Bangalore

Strengths

  • Quartet of overseas players in du Plessis, Hasaranga, Maxwell and Hazlewood means star quality in very different areas.
  • Good leadership and experience with du Plessis, Kohli, Karthik and Maxwell in the side.
  • Hasaranga could have a huge impact against players who haven’t played against him that much.

An X to represent the weaknesses of Royal Challengers Bangalore

Weaknesses

  • Lower middle-order looks one of the weakest in the competition.
  • Du Plessis doesn’t have a suitable opening partner.
  • Historically have a poor record of defending totals.

Royal Challengers Bangalore FAQs

No. Odds of 8.0 aren’t great about a side with a weak batting middle-order and who have had a poor time of it in the IPL over the years. At those sorts of odds, CSK and Punjab Kings rate as better bets.

Faf du Plessis could come pretty close after finishing second for the Orange Cap in 2021, while at CSK. He’ll open the batting and has a very good IPL record so should have a good chance.

Faf du Plessis took over as RCB skipper from Virat Kohli ahead of the 2022 season. Kohli resigned the captaincy during the 2021 season and new signing du Plessis, a former South Africa captain, was appointed their new captain in March 2022.

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