Indian Premier League: Royal Challengers Bangalore - Virat Kohli's Team Gets Shane Watson Boost

It should be fair to say that Royal Challengers Bangalore have always been a batting powerhouse. It has been a Chris Gayle-Virat Kohli-AB De Villiers show in the past few seasons and that has attracted them a lot of fans across the world. On the other hand, the bowling department has lacked depth and because of that, RCB haven't been able to win the IPL trophy even once. (Vijay Mallya Resigns As Director of Royal Challengers Bangalore: BCCI Officials)

But analysing this year's auctions, RCB can go the distance given the strength of their team on paper. The solid batting line-up has been boosted by the inclusion of Aussie champion Shane Watson and the bowling department has added a clever spin by roping in the West Indian leg-spinner Samuel Badree. Vikramjeet Malik and ambidextrous bowler Akshay Karnewar will give skipper Kohli more bowling options.

New Members in Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB):

* Shane Watson, the Australian all-rounder who played for the now suspended Rajasthan Royals for the first eight seasons, was bought for a whopping 9.5 crores. He became the first million-dollar buy of this year's auction.

* All-rounder Stuart Binny, who had been a crucial member of Rajasthan Royals in the past few seasons, was bought for a massive price of 2 crores.

* Travis Head, the Australian left-hander, who was a part of Delhi Daredevils in 2015, was bought for 50 lakhs

* Kane Richardson, the Australian fast-bowler and a former Rajasthan Royals player, was bought for 2 crores.

* Samuel Badree, the T20 specialist who had earlier represented Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, was bought for 50 lakhs.

* As far as the list of uncapped Indians goes, both Sachin Baby and Iqbal Abdullah were bought for 10 lakh each, Praveen Dubey for 35 lakhs, Vikramjeet Malik for 20 lakhs, Vikas Tokas for 10 lakh and Akshay Karnewar, the ambidextrous bowler from Vidarbha, got 10 lakh.

Virat Kohli is Royal Challengers Bangalore's captain.

© BCCI

Royal Challengers Bangalore Coaching Staff:

Former New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori continues to be the head coach of the team that also has Bharat Arun as the assistant coach, Allan Donald as the bowling coach and Trent Woodhill as the batting and fielding coach. The team also has Ramesh Mane as the masseur, who is also famously known as 'Mane Kaka' across India's international setup.
 
Royal Challengers Bangalore Past Record:

2008: League stage
2009: Runners-up
2010: Semi-finalists
2011: Runners-up
2012: League stage
2013: League stage
2014: League stage
2015: Semi-finalists
 
Royal Challengers Bangalore Team Potential:

Any team that has a Gayle, Kohli, de Villiers and Watson starts as overwhelming favourites.  The middle-order looks decent with Sarfaraz Khan, who has built a reputation of scoring consistently after some brilliant performances in the recently concluded U-19 World Cup, and Kedhar Jadhav, who was Delhi Daredevils' most consistent performer last season after Shreyas Iyer. The bowling department looks better but if Mitchell Starc misses out then the batsmen and especially Watson and Badree (both in bowling) will have to shoulder a big responsibility.

All in all, this team possesses the potential to reach the last four again this season.