The previous season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was filled with full of highs and lows moments for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Despite the first half of the season being lackluster, the entire team bounced back in the latter half and qualified for the playoffs by triumphing over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the completing phase of the league stages.
Unfortunately, RCB once again became the prey of enduring the ‘Chokers Tag’ by losing to Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator round and leaving their goal of winning the maiden IPL trophy incomplete.
In the recently concluded IPL 2025 mega auction in Saudi Arabia, Jeddah on November 24 and 25, RCB has tried their best levels to strengthen their squad. However, fans were disappointed with the franchise’s weakened approach even after having the second-largest purse of INR 83 crore. Moreover, not using RTM cards to retain quality players such as Glenn Maxwell, Will Jacks, Faf du Plessis, and Cameron Green outlines the wasted chance.
Shockingly, the risk for RCB further intensified with their lack of attempt to acquire leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul, who could have formed the core part of the franchise.
Let’s take a closer look at the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of RCB after the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Strengths:
- Batting Lineup: RCB has a quality batting lineup that includes Virat Kohli, Rajat Pathidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Liam Livingstone, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma, and Phil Salt. The middle-order batting lineup has been bolstered compared to the previous season.
- Best Finishers Role: Batters such as Jitesh Sharma and Tim David can step into the role of the best finisher by executing power-hitting strokes in the death overs.
- Powerful pace bowling line-up: By acquiring Bhuvneshwar Kumar for INR 10.75 crores and Josh Hazelwood for 12.50 crores in the mega auction, RCB has added fuel to the pace bowling unit. In addition, pacers such as Yash Dayal, Lungi Ngidi, Romario Shepherd, Rasikh Dar, and Nuwan Thushara can provide a perfect backup to the bowling lineup.
Weaknesses:
- Lack of Quality Spinners: Apart from Suyash Sharma, there aren’t any full-time- spin bowlers in the squad, which is a huge drawback. There are spin-bowling all-rounders such as Liam Livingstone, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, and Mohit Rathee. But, their dual role with the bat and ball might restrict their spin-bowling abilities, and it wouldn’t be possible to replicate a quality spinner’s true essence and skills.
- Batters Struggle on spin-friendly tracks: Although Phil Salt, Tim David, and Liam Livingstone are known for their hard-hitting skills, they might face challenges on spin-friendly tracks. Moreover, Virat Kohli’s struggle against the spinners since 2021 could be a worrying factor for RCB.
- Not using RTM to retain all-rounders: RCB not preferring the RTM option during the auction to retain all-rounders such as Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, and Will Jacks could severely leave a huge void in the batting and bowling unit.
Opportunities:
- A mix of Young and Experienced Talents: RCB’s batting and bowling unit looks balanced with a set of experienced and young talents to deliver match-winning contributions for their team. Especially, the franchise has focused on building a combination of explosive sets of batters in the middle-order and finisher role.
- Nurturing Young Talents: As Virat Kohli is reaching the waning period of his career, his guidance can help the rising talents to open a new chapter in their cricket career.
Threats:
- Heavily Dependent on Virat Kohli: RCB’s previous seasons have a proven track of their batting lineup entirely relying on Virat Kohli’s performance. However, the 36-year-old would no longer be a lone warrior only if the middle order with the set of quality players performed exceptionally well.
- Captaincy Remains a Question: After releasing Faf du Plessis ahead of the auction, the main question remains who could become the next RCB skipper for IPL 2025? As of now, there hasn’t been any official confirmation about the team’s captain. Possibly, Virat Kohli could once again take up the role of being the only player in the squad with several years of experience in captaincy. Suppose, the management appoints a new captain, there could be huge challenges for the franchise as their dreams of winning the championship title would be in jeopardy.
- RCB to break the Jinx: Despite the top order consisting of high-profile batters in the earlier seasons such as Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, and AB de Villiers, RCB has failed to win the trophy despite reaching the finals in three seasons (in 2009, 2011 and 2016). Also, the franchise has shown a lack of confidence in acquiring top players during the mega auction, and not using RTM to retain their core players raises uncertainty about the team’s success in the next season.
