Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had an underwhelming campaign in IPL 2019. With only 5 wins from 14 games, they finished the league stage as the bottom-placed team in the points table.
This was the third year in a row now that RCB failed to qualify for the play-offs round and the Bangalore-based franchise are yet to lift the trophy in 12 seasons. In fact, RCB's best performance till date across all the IPL editions is the runners-up finish in 2016.
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With the fast-approaching IPL 2020 auction, RCB on Friday (November 15) retained 13 and released as many as 12 players from their last year's squad.
England all-rounder Moeen Ali is one of the two foreign players retained for next season and he believes that the team cannot only rely on batting superstars like Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to win games.
"We need a good start. I think we always start slowly. We need to be brave, especially at home because the wicket in Bengaluru is very good. The boundaries are small over there and it's very daunting for the bowlers," Moeen told IANS on the sidelines of the ongoing Abu Dhabi T10 league.
"We cannot keep relying on Virat and AB de Villiers to win us games. Batters like myself and whomsoever is coming in, have to step up and bat well," he added.
The players, who have been retained, will not be a part of the auction, slated to be held in Kolkata on December 19.
RCB’s retained players: Virat Kohli, Moeen Ali, Yuzvendra Chahal, AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Pawan Negi, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Mann, Devdutt Padikkal, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini.
RCB’s released players: Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetymer, Akshdeep Nath, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Colin de Grandhomme, Prayas Ray Barman, Tim Southee, Kulwant Khejroliya, Himmat Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Milind Kumar, Dale Steyn.
(Inputs from IANS)
