Former India coach and Karnataka superstar Venkatesh Prasad believes Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) need to pick the best 11 ‘on form’ and do ‘a lot more’ to win their first IPL trophy.
RCB are one of the three original IPL teams to have not won the title yet. They hold the record for playing the most number of IPL finals – three – without winning the trophy. Some of the greats of the game have represented and coached them and but haven’t been able to break the curse of the final step.
Royal Challengers Bangalore implement bold strategy but leave bases uncovered
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), as is the norm, generated plenty of buzz at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, split equally between the players they bought and those they did not. They had a few RTM cards up their sleeve but chose not to use them for the likes of Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, or Will Jacks.
Instead, they spent big on Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Liam Livingstone, and Phil Salt at the IPL Auction 2025. Each of them could be match-winners on their day and RCB will hope they have many such days over the next few years.
RCB were particularly active on day two, concentrating on all-rounders that provide variety and give them more options. Krunal Pandya was one of those they purchased, with Tim David, a genuine finisher, also returning to the franchise, having turned out for them in 2021. There were several other uncapped buys too, with Rasikh Dar headlining that category. Swapnil Singh was acquired via an RTM, and they were also quick to snap up Jacob Bethell, Nuwan Thushara and Romario Shepherd.
RCB team in 2025 :Biggest Strengths and Biggest Weaknesses
Their batting firepower. Any batting line-up that contains Virat Kohli, the ever-improving Rajat Patidar, David, Jitesh, Livingstone, and Salt, will be a handful for the opposition, more so at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. All of them may be right-handers, but Livingstone and Jitesh have a knack of innovating to put the bowlers under pressure, which will give RCB the ammunition to post above-par totals.
Jacob Bethell, who has taken to international cricket like a duck to water, is a player with an enormous ceiling and if he plays, he could provide RCB with a cavalier left-handed batting option. The three-time finalists also have a tidy new-ball attack, featuring Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood. Yash Dayal, as he showed last year, is not shabby either inside the powerplay and that should give RCB a good foundation to build upon.
Death-bowling. And that, as RCB fans would testify, is a tale as old as time. Bhuvneshwar, while probably still a force with the new ball, is not as potent as he once was toward the end of the innings, with Hazlewood also not an out-and-out death bowler. Dayal and Rasikh, thus, might have to shoulder a significant chunk of the burden – a far-from-ideal situation.
Their batting arsenal, despite its obvious firepower, also seems slightly imbalanced. David, Jitesh, and Livingstone are finishers, with Kohli and Salt most definitely top-order batters. That leaves only Patidar as the bridge between the two. Krunal is an option but he has been found out against the short ball in recent seasons.
They also do not have a top-class spinner in their ranks. Krunal and Suyash Sharma can do a job, as can Livingstone, although they may struggle on the flat tracks in Bengaluru. RCB have also traded continuity for a new direction, and there is uncertainty over how that will pan out. Venkatesh Prasad believes RCB must pick the best 11 ‘on form’ to win their first IPL trophy
Ex-India Coach Venkatesh Prasad explains how RCB can win IPL Trophy in 2025
Former India coach and Karnataka superstar Venkatesh Prasad believes Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) need to pick the best 11 ‘on form’ and do ‘a lot more’ to win their first IPL trophy.
RCB are one of the three original IPL teams to have not won the title yet. They hold the record for playing the most number of IPL finals – three – without winning the trophy. Some of the greats of the game have represented and coached them and but haven’t been able to break the curse of the final step.
Venkatesh Prasad was asked in his Twitter (now X) ask-me-anything (AMA) session about his opinion on how RCB can finally win the IPL.
He replied, “Play the best 11 according to form and a lot more”
Last year, RCB went on one of their best runs, recovering from being in the bottom two of the points table at the halfway stage of the season to qualifying at number four. It was another show of the quality and character of the team .However, once again, the final huddles halted the dream run as Rajasthan Royals (RR) beat them in a closely contested Eliminator.
Now, ahead of the 2025 season, RCB are one of the few teams to have not confirmed their captains. They released Faf du Plessis ahead of the auction last year and didn’t sign an obvious captaincy replacement.
There has been widespread speculation that Virat Kohli might be ready to take over again. Head coach Andy Flower was asked the question earlier this year but he remained non-committal.
“Well, you’re going to have to wait for the outcome. It’s a new era that we are going into, the start of a three-year cycle, and I’m sure the anticipation will be good for you,”
Flower was quoted by SportsStar ahead of the third season of the ILT20, where he’s coaching the Gulf Giants.
“You can ask me as often as you like, but that communication has not happened yet,” he clarified.
RCB Squad For IPL 2025: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chikara, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Manoj Bhandage, Liam Livingstone, Krunal Pandya, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Phil Salt, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Rasikh Dar, Nuwan Thushara, Lungi Ngidi, Abhinandan Singh, Suyash Sharma and Mohit Rathee
A little bit of everything, really. Spacing out their targets would have helped. Using their RTM more than once, especially in Jacks’ case, might also have been a prudent move. Given what RCB eventually paid for Bhuvneshwar, they could have probably gone harder for Mohammed Shami. Or, someone like Washington Sundar – a left-handed floater currently playing for India – who only cost the Gujarat Titans Rs 3.2 crore.
RCB have since said that they were looking for specific roles and players, but with the host of changes, they are gambling on all of these moving parts aligning and falling into place in IPL 2025.