IPL 2021: Top 3 best performers for RCB in the tournament

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were one of the best teams in IPL 2021 during the tournament's first phase. They won their first four matches and remained in the top half of the IPL standings for almost the entire course of the league stage.

However, they could not dominate the UAE leg the same way. RCB started their UAE leg with a morale-shattering defeat against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Soon after, they lost a game to the Chennai Super Kings. RCB managed to finish in the Top 3 by winning four of their next five matches, but they crashed out of the competition by losing to KKR in the Eliminator match.

It was Virat Kohli's last season as RCB's IPL captain. Unfortunately, the Bengaluru-based franchise could not win even a single title under his captaincy. Nevertheless, there were many bright spots in RCB's IPL 2021 campaign. Here's a look at the team's top three performers in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League.

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1. Glenn Maxwell - Only RCB batter to score 500 runs in IPL 2021

Royal Challengers Bangalore broke the bank at IPL Auction 2021 to acquire Glenn Maxwell's services. The decision proved to be a masterstroke as Maxwell aggregated 513 runs for the team in 15 matches.

The Aussie all-rounder was the highest run-getter for the franchise in IPL 2021. Maxwell failed to hit a single maximum in IPL 2020, but sent 21 deliveries out of the boundary line this year. Also, his strike rate went up from 101.88 to 144.10.

Maxwell's consistent performance was one of the primary reasons behind the Royal Challengers Bangalore's success this year. The RCB team management will be keen to retain his services for the upcoming season.

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2. Harshal Patel

Not many fans would have expected Harshal Patel to be a contender for the IPL 2021 Purple Cap when the Delhi Capitals traded him to the Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier this year. But RCB backroom staff backed Harshal and he responded by taking 32 wickets for the team in 15 matches.

Patel had the opportunity to break Dwayne Bravo's record for the most wickets by a bowler in a single IPL season. Unfortunately, he could not break it, but he leveled Bravo's tally in his last IPL 2021 match. The right-arm medium pacer had a dream run with RCB in IPL 2021.

Also Check: IPL Live Score | IPL Points Table | IPL Schedule

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3. Mohammed Siraj

Mohammed Siraj was the most improved player in IPL 2021 (Image Courtesy: IPLT20.com)

Although Mohammed Siraj did not scalp as many wickets as Harshal Patel, he ensured that the opposition batters did not score runs easily when he was bowling. In the past, RCB struggled to curtail the runs, especially in the slog overs.

Siraj had an economy rate of more than 8.5 runs per over in each of his previous IPL seasons. But this year, he showed stark improvement and kept a check on the run flow by bowling with an economy rate of just 6.78.

The right-arm fast bowler nailed his yorkers and troubled the best batters in the world in IPL 2021. Siraj picked up 11 wickets in 15 games and helped RCB finish fourth this year.