IPL 2019: 5 Players who could be released by RCB

#4 Brendon McCullum

Brendon McCullum seems to have lost that midas touch

Brendon McCullum, one of New Zealand's finest wicket-keeper batsmen, has been a regular name in many T20 leagues across the world primarily because of his attacking batting and athletic fielding. However, since a year or so, McCullum seems to have lost his Midas touch as he has failed considerably across various T20 leagues.

McCullum had a decent 2017-18 season of BBL where he scored 248 runs at an average of 24.80 and a strike-rate of 135.52. However, he failed to replicate the same in IPL 2018. In IPL 2018, he played six games for RCB where he amassed 127 runs at an average of 21.16 and a strike-rate of 144.31 - pretty average numbers (except the strike-rate) for a T20 opener.

Besides, he had a sorry run in Afghanistan Premier League 2018 where he notched up only 158 runs at an average of 19.75 and a strike-rate of 105.33. The numbers are quite demotivating for a batsman of McCullum's caliber and stature.

Hence, after deliberating upon it, RCB might release the veteran right-hander to offset a better deal. One might argue that Quinton de Kock's release doesn't justify McCullum's exit as RCB would be minus their two experienced openers.

However, with Parthiv Patel, Manan Vohra, and Virat Kohli in the contention for the opening slot, Bangalore could afford to release McCullum. Besides, the move would help RCB to recruit an experienced man in the middle-order.