IPL 2019: What should be RCB's ideal playing XI

Royal Challengers Bangalore is one of the most followed teams in the Indian Premier League. Though they haven't won the title, they attract a lot of support at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangaluru.

RCB have released some key players before the 2019 auction with the likes of Brendon McCullum, Quinton de Kock, and Chris Woakes shown the door. However, they have made some great buys at the auction.

Shimron Hetmyer is definitely a player to watch out for in IPL 2019. Shivam Dube is another player who has attracted a lot of attention at the auction.

RCB squad: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Colin de Grandhomme, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Shivam Dube, Heinrich Klassen, Gurkeerat Singh, Himmat Singh, Prayas Ray Barman.

Here in this article, we take a look at RCB's ideal playing XI for IPL 2019.

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Openers: Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli

Parthiv Patel

Parthiv Patel has been a part of the Indian Premier League ever since its inception in 2008. He has played 125 games in IPL and scored 2475 runs. He played six games for RCB in 2018 and scored 153 runs at an average of 30.60. RCB released Quinton de Kock and Brendon McCullum, and Parthiv is expected to step up for them this season.

Virat Kohli is expected to open the batting and lead the team once again in IPL 2019. Though he has been brilliant with the bat in the tournament, the Indian captain has failed to deliver an IPL title for his franchise so far. Kohli is 52 short of 5000 runs in IPL and only behind Suresh Raina in the all-time run scorers list. Though he does not open the batting in international cricket, he has done it for RCB in the past and enjoyed a lot of success.

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Middle-order: AB de Villiers, Shimron Hetmyer

AB de Villiers in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore

AB de Villiers is one of the most successful overseas batsmen in the Indian Premier League. The Proteas star has scored 3953 runs in IPL at an average of almost 40 and a strike rate of 151. With 28 fifties and three hundred, de Villiers has played some scintillating knocks in the tournament. AB de Villiers is retired from international cricket and expected to play the entire season for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Shimron Hetmyer is an IPL newbie. He was phenomenal for Guyana Amazon Warriors in the 2018 Carribean Premier League. With 440 runs at a strike rate of almost 150, he was one of the stars of the tournament. With a T20 strike rate of 142.42, Hetmyer is expected to light up the Chinnaswamy Stadium come March. The prospect of Kohli, de Villiers, and Hetmyer batting together is mouthwatering.

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All-rounders: Marcus Stoinis, Shivam Dube, and Washington Sundar

Marcus Stoinis

For a player of his abilities, Marcus Stoinis, surprisingly, had an underwhelming run in IPL so far. He has scored 262 runs in 19 games and also picked up 13 wickets. RCB traded Mandeep Singh for Marcus Stonis before the 2019 IPL auction. RCB also allowed Chris Woakes to leave and bought Stonis to replace him.

Shivam Dubey got into some great hitting form right before the IPL auction. A day before the 2019 IPL auction, Dube hit five sixes in five balls off left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh in a Ranji Trophy match against Baroda. The Mumbai all-rounder has been smashing sixes at will in the domestic circuit and Royal Challengers Bangalore paid a lot of money to sign the youngster.

Washington Sundar was retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore despite a poor IPL 2018. The 19-year-old is one of the best all-rounders in the domestic circuit. He has played a crucial role in Rising Pune Supergiant's run to the final in 2017 as he picked up eight wickets at 6.16 runs an over. Sundar could play a lot more games for RCB this season.

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Bowlers: Nathan Coulter-Nile, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Mohammed Siraj

Nathan Coulter-Nile

Nathan Coulter-Nile had enjoyed some success in IPL having played only 26 games over the course of five seasons. He has picked up 36 wickets at an economy rate of 7.66 and the last time he played, the 31-year-old picked up 15 wickets in just eight games during the 2017 campaign. He missed the 2018 IPL because of an injury.

Umesh Yadav had a stunning campaign with RCB last time around when he picked up 20 wickets in 14 games during IPL 2018. He led the bowling attack brilliantly and picked up wickets with the new ball. Umesh has picked up 111 wickets in IPL so far from 108 games. He can crank it up and bowls consistently over 145 kmph.

Yuzvendra Chahal is one of the best limited-overs spinners in world cricket at the moment. Chahal has been consistent for RCB over the past few seasons and picked up a lot of wickets. In his last four IPL seasons, Chahal has picked up 70 wickets and went for less than eight an over.

Mohammed Siraj is one of the rising stars of Indian cricket. The 24-year-old has made giant strides as a bowler and even made his ODI debut for India in the series against Australia earlier this month. He picked up 11 wickets for RCB last season and bowled one of the fastest deliveries in the tournament, which clocked 149.94 kmph.

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