3 players Royal Challengers Bangalore should try to get in IPL trade

Royal Challengers Bangalore, the star-studded IPL franchise led by India’s captain Virat Kohli, has always under-performed in the Indian Premier League. They have had the strongest of the squads most years but the team does not generate any momentum when the season begins. The Bangalore-based franchise wins games in the second phase of the tournament but, ultimately does not win big.

In the 12 seasons of IPL, Royal Challengers Bangalore have played the IPL final thrice, losing all three of them. Virat Kohli’s men would look to turn things around in season 13 of the tournament and the team management will try to solve the problems in their team combination during the pre-season trade window.

Also, Royal Challengers Bangalore should focus to bring in some value-for-money players in the squad instead of trying to sign a big name.

Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals have already exercised their trade right. Given that RCB had finished last in the points table of VIVO IPL 2019, the fans can expect them to acquire some players in the IPL trade. Here are the 3 players that RCB must target.

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#3 Moises Henriques (from Kings XI Punjab)

Moises Henriques has proven himself as a match-winner in IPL

Portugal-born all-rounder, Moises Henriques had a forgettable IPL season in 2019 thanks to his injury issues. The Australian international was a part of the Kings XI Punjab squad but, injury did not allow him to play a single match. The team had included him in the playing XI for one of the matches however, a last-minute injury kept him out.

The Mohali-based franchise already has a strong foreign contingent featuring the likes of Chris Gayle, Sam Curran, Nicholas Pooran, David Miller, Andrew Tye and Hardus Viljoen. Moises Henriques felt like a surplus in that camp however, the Royal Challengers Bangalore can utilize his services well.

They need a quality all-rounder who can bat as per the situation of the game besides bowling some crucial overs in the middle. Henriques has an experience of 57 IPL matches where he has aggregated nearly 1,000 runs and taken 38 wickets. Hence, the Australian would be a valuable addition to RCB’s squad.

Royal Challengers Bangalore's two all-rounders Shivam Dubey and Colin de Grandhomme suffered from poor form in IPL 2019. Dubey, who was bought at a hefty price of ₹5 crores could make it to the playing XI in only 4 matches where he scored a total 40 runs. Given that RCB had invested so much in the all-rounder, a lot was expected from him.

The same was the case with New Zealand's Colin de Grandhomme who performed well in the 2019 Cricket World Cup but it needs to be taken into account that the World Cup took place in English conditions which favor a player like de Grandhomme. In the IPL season played prior to the World Cup, de Grandhomme had scored 55 runs in 4 matches at an underwhelming strike rate of 93.87. Also, he conceded runs at a hammering economy rate of 11 in the 4 games.

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#2 Sandeep Warrier

Sandeep Warrier has been a part of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the past

Perhaps, one of the most underrated domestic fast bowlers of the nation, Sandeep Warrier has never been picked in the team consistently. He had joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2013 and stayed a part of the franchise till 2015 before moving to Kolkata Knight Riders in 2019. In the 3 IPL matches he had played for Kolkata, Warrier had scalped 2 wickets at a good economy rate of 7.08.

These bowling stats are good but, Kolkata have much more talented pacers in their squad. KKR has Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Prasidh Krishna, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite and Lockie Ferguson in the fast bowling department.

This means that he would not receive a lot of chances if there aren't any injury issues prevailing in the teams. To trade Sandeep Warrier won't be a huge loss for KKR but Sandeep Warrier's acquistion could be a boost for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

RCB's fast bowlers struggled to contain the runs last year. Even experienced bowlers like Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav conceded truckloads of runs throughout the tournament. Hence, the Bangalore-based franchise need a good Indian fast bowling option who can support Navdeep Saini and co.

#1 Hanuma Vihari

Hanuma Vihari had made a name for himself while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad

Indian middle order batsman, Hanuma Vihari can be the missing piece of RCB's jigsaw puzzle as the Virat Kohli-led franchise lacked a proper Indian name in the middle order. They tried multiple batsmen in that position but none of them could provide the stability. While Hanuma Vihari is not a big hitter like Shivam Dubey or Akshdeep Nath, he can play a precious knock of 40 or 50 runs in 30-35 balls.

We had a look at Dubey's subpar numbers earlier and now let us take a look at Akshdeep Nath's statistics from IPL 2019. The right-handed batsman played 8 matches for RCB but could only aggregate 61 runs at a poor average of 12.20. Also, he had failed to build the innings when the team lost early wickets.

Royal Challengers Bangalore have multiple foreign stars in the form of AB de Villiers, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer and Moeen Ali. However, RCB's batting order suffered collapses whenever they lost their top order batsmen early. The over-reliance on foreign names had a huge impact on the team combination as well.

Vihari could possibly stabilize the innings in that scenario. His IPL 2019 franchise, Delhi Capitals tried to use him as a finisher because they already had a good middle order. With Rishabh Pant, Colin Ingram, Shreyas Iyer, Colin Munro and Axar Patel in Delhi's squad, they would not mind trading Hanuma Vihari.

RCB should try to acquire Vihari's services in the trade as he can be a solid Indian option in the middle order.