Royal Challengers Bangalore

RCB remain one of the IPL’s biggest enigmas. Their squad over the years has been a who’s who of all-time IPL greats.

RCB players have included: Kevin Pietersen, Jacques Kallis, Anil Kumble, Chris Gayle, Shane Watson, Robin Uthappa, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, AB de Villiers, Vinay Kumar, Yuvraj Singh, Faf du Plessis and for just about every season since the start of the IPL: Virat Kohli.

Kohli, was, for many years the skipper, though last year he handed the leadership to Faf du Plessis, who captained South Africa in all formats before calling time on his international career.

But despite having such strong teams over the years and always being among the favorites, they’ve never won it. Three runner-up spots over the years without ever winning makes them the sort of IPL bridesmaids (but never the bride).

Still, RCB have one of the biggest IPL fanbases, Kohli will continue to be idolized by his fans and in a league as unpredictable as this one, all it takes is one season where the players gel and handle the big moments better than in previous years to go all the way.

Last season was a somewhat average one. Yes, they made the Playoffs and were just one match away from making what would have been their fourth IPL final. But once again, they buckled under the pressure.

But Royal Challengers Bangalore looked like a well-balanced team for much of the campaign, they’ve pretty much stuck what with they had last season, and a couple of small tweaks and improvements here and there could see them go pretty close.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Key Facts

RCB Betting Odds To Win IPL 2023

Royal Challengers Bangalore odds to win IPL 2023: 10.00 with Leonbets.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore odds to win IPL 2023 are currently 10.00. That puts them pretty much bang in the middle of the 10 teams on the IPL winner market and the same price as four-time winners CSK.

RCB have been unlucky in IPL 2023 so far and have lost two out of the three games they have played this season. We see them making huge improvements as we progress further.

On the one hand, it’s a considerably bigger price than they’ve been in previous seasons when they were always among the favorites and inevitably let punters down.

So, if you’re looking to swerve one of the favorites and go for a bigger price, it’s not a bad bet on a team who looks well-equipped, on paper, to have a pretty strong campaign.

The flip side to the argument is to ask yourself: if they’ve never gone all the way in 15 seasons of IPL and at some times with stronger squads than this one, why should this year be any different?

So, all things considered: RCB are neither the best bet out there this season nor the worst.

RCB Match Betting Sites

RCB Squad For IPL 2023

Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Suyash Prabhudessai, Rajat Patidar, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, Finn Allen, Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood, Siddarth Kaul, Akash Deep, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Michael Bracewell, Manoj Bhandage, Rajan Kumar, Avinash Singh, Sonu Yadav.

rcb At IPL Auction 2023: Notable Players out

RCB did little in the way of business at the IPL 2023 auction, going with continuity rather than full-scale changes after an up-and-down season in 2022.

They released seven players with Siddarth Kaul and David Willey probably the best-known of them.

Kaul, who has made a couple of appearances for India in white-ball cricket only played one match last season, his four overs proving very expensive.

Willey played a bit more, with four appearances, but didn’t make much of an impact either, although he was pretty economical with the ball when given the chance.

So, nothing too noteworthy in terms of RCB players being released or traded.

Notable Players in

There wasn’t too much activity in terms of Indian players being signed at the 2023 IPL auction.

But the release of Willey, who had cost them decent money, opened the door to two somewhat eye-catching overseas signings.

The first was Englishman Will Jacks (3.2 Crore) who has impressed in T20 leagues around the world over the past 12 months or so. He’s a top-order batsman who bowls a bit.

But he got injured and has since been replaced by Kiwi spinning all-rounder Michael Bracewell.

Bracewell has made a huge splash for his country in all three formats over the last year as a canny bowler, gun fielder, and on several occasions as an extremely cool-headed and big-hitting lower-middle order batsman.

He might have to wait for his chance with several quality overseas players elsewhere in the squad limiting his chances, but he’s sure to take any opportunities that come his way.

Then there’s Reece Topley (1.9 Crore), the English fast bowler. He has a fine record in T20 cricket and if first-choice overseas pace bowler Josh Hazlewood doesn’t recover from injury in time for the start of the season, he may play straight away. If he plays well enough, he may well keep his place when Hazlewood is back.

RCB Betting Tips For IPL 2023

Here are some IPL betting tips for you to follow:

RCB Top Batsman Betting Tip: Virat Kohli

2022 was a testing year for former RCB skipper Kohli to begin with. He lost the India captaincy in all formats and was struggling for form, with many writing him off for good.

But he hit back with a brilliant T20 century at the Asia Cup and followed that up by being the top runscorer at the T20 World Cup, despite India being knocked out in the semis.

He then scored his first Test century in years against Australia in March 2023 to prove that whatever the format, he was well and truly back.

Other players in this team hit bigger and score quicker. But he’s the man they’ll build their batting around and he will look to be there at the crease for as long as possible.

There’s a reason why he’s the highest runscorer in the history of the IPL, after all.

RCB Top Bowler Betting Tip: Hasaranga de Silva  

Hasaranga de Silva wasted no time in showing everyone why he was one of the most sought-after bowlers in the 2022 IPL auction.

He didn’t quite win the Purple Cap (Yuzvendra Chahal did) but with 26 wickets, he fell just one short. For good measure he was also pretty economical, going at just 7.54 runs an over for the season. Not bad by any bowler’s standards and particularly good for a leg spinner.

But it’s mostly for taking wickets that he’s there and he’ll surely be even better for having a full season of IPL cricket under his belt.

There are some good bowlers on this side with Hazlewood, Topley, and Harshal Patel just three of them; but he should take more wickets than any of them again.

RCB Key Player: Glenn Maxwell

Kohli and Hasaranga could well have been our pick here too, but we’ll go with Maxwell.

He’ll be key in that Number 4 batting role, will be their most important fielder, and also as an occasional off-spin bowler who doesn’t mind the hard task of bowling in the Powerplay overs.

He’s a fearless batsman who can score as quickly as anyone and is right up there with the overseas players to have played the most IPL matches in his career, so has plenty of experience to count on.

Let’s see if this is the year he finally wins an IPL.

RCB Strengths and weaknesses Ahead Of ipl 2023

Strengths

• Hasaranga is one of the best bowlers in the IPL.
• Kohli has been in excellent form these last 6 months.
• Strong middle-order with lots of boundary hitters.

Weaknesses

• Always seem to crack under pressure.
• Du Plessis was never that successful as a captain.
• May struggle to defend par totals batting first.

rcb Probable XI ipl 2023

Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Josh Hazlewood, Mohammed Siraj.

Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL Predictions

Here’s our quickfire guide to how RCB may perform in the 2023 IPL.

Where will RCB finish in the IPL table?

They’re halfway up the table in the betting and they may just finish roughly halfway up the table in the Group Stages.

There are some areas where they look strong and others where you’re thinking ‘here we go again’ as they make the simple look complicated.

But what they do have is three or four obvious match-winners. So if they take turns to shine, they could sneak into the Playoffs in fourth place.