Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, retained 13 players while releasing 11 ahead of the auction in December in Kolkata. For 12 straight seasons, RCB have failed to earn the IPL trophy despite having some of the finest players in their ranks. In August, RCB roped in Mike Hesson as their Director of Cricket Operations and Simon Katich as the new Head Coach.
"For the 13th season of IPL, we want a balanced core team. The process of retention and release of players is always a difficult decision and yet a pivotal part of the team selection. While we acknowledge the contribution of all our players in the previous sessions, in preparation to the upcoming season, we have further fine-tuned the squad and have decided to release players in order to get closer to our current cricket strategy. So, here's hoping for a good start to the next season of IPL," Sanjeev Churiwala, Chairman of Royal Challengers Bangalore said in a press release.
In October, the team captained by Virat Kohli appointed Navnita Gautam as their Sports Massage Therapist becoming the first team in the tournament to hire a woman support staff.
Retained Players: Virat Kohli, Moeen Ali, Yuzvendra Chahal, Parthiv Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Pawan Negi, Devdutt Padikkal, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Navdeep Saini, AB de Villiers
Released Players: Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Akshdeep Nath, Dale Steyn (Nathan Coulter-Nile), Colin de Grandhomme, Prayas Ray Barman, Tim Southee, Kulwant Khejroliya, Himmat Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Milind Kumar
Dale Steyn, who joined RCB as a replacement for Nathan Coulter-Nile in IPL 2019, has not been retained.