Royal Challengers Bangalore Best Possible Playing 11: Focus on Virat Kohli, middle-order after IPL auction

Bengaluru, February 14: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will be eager to launch a fresh campaign in IPL 2022 to bag that elusive maiden IPL title. It is not known yet as who will be the new captain of Royal Challengers after Virat Kohli left the hot seat post the IPL 2021.

They have taken some strides towards it during the IPL Auction 2022 which concluded over the weekend on February 12 and 13.

They acquired some players like Faf du Plessis, Wanindu Hasaranga and Josh Hazlewood to add meat to their line-up.

The RCB head coach Sanjay Bangar said the inclusion of former South African batter Du Plessis has added "real strength" to the batting department.

"We are quite satisfied with our haul at the auctions to form a balanced team. Our plan was to bring stability and at the same time, have variations owing to the changing situations in a T20 tournament," said Bangar in a RCB release.

"We aimed to have a solid role for each player that we pick along with some back-ups in the same form. We have achieved a well-rounded pool of talents from international and domestic cricket.

"The addition of Faf du Plessis adds real strength to the batting department. He is a proven performer, a seasoned campaigner and has delivered at the highest levels.”

However, the absence of a solid middle-order batsman could come back to haunt them. AB de Villiers had retired from all forms of cricket last year, and the RCB are hoping to find a solution in relative lesser known Indian names like Shahabaz Ahmed, Suyash Prabhudessai, Mahipal Lomror etc.

However, the procurement of Dinesh Karthik has given them a proven finisher.

Speaking about the strategy at the auction, Mike Hesson, Director of Cricket Operations, RCB said, "We are very happy with the way our squad is shaped with the new inclusions around the retained talents.

“It is a really balanced team of overseas and domestic players. We have managed to cover all our bases with multi-dimensional skill sets and that was the key to our strategy getting into the auctions.”

So, here we are attempting to find the best possible playing 11 of RCB for the IPL 2022.

RCB squad after auction: Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Faf du Plessis, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Josh Hazlewood, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, David Willey, Shahbaz Ahmed, Sherfane Rutherford, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Siddharth Kaul, Jason Behrendorff, Karn Sharma, Suyash Prabhudesai, Chama Milind, Akash Deep, Aneeshwar Gautam, Luvnith Sisodia.

RCB Possible Playing 11: 1. Virat Kohli, 2. Faf du Plessis, 3. Mahipal Lomror, 4. Glenn Maxwell, 5. Shahbaz Ahmed, 6. Dinesh Karthik (WK), 7. Wanindu Hasaranga, 8. Harshal Patel, 9. Mohammad Siraj, 10. Josh Hazlewood, 11. Karn Sharma.