One of the most celebrated teams in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will head into the upcoming edition of the tournament with a new skipper. Earlier this month, the Bangalore-based team announced Faf du Plessis as their new captain. The legendary Virat Kohli captained RCB for eight years but couldn’t manage to lay their hands on the prestigious trophy.
With a new set of players along with a new skipper, the franchise’s fans across the nation will hope for the IPL title victory. In the IPL retention 2022, RCB retained Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj. In the mega auction, the 2016 finalist got hold of several renowned T20 players across the globe. Let’s have a look at the top three players that could be crucial for RCB in the IPL 2022:
1. Virat Kohli
The list would be incomplete without mentioning the name of the person who captained and carried the franchise for a very long time. Virat Kohli stepped down from the RCB captaincy after the second phase of 2021. In the upcoming season, the 33-year-old will play without any burden of captaincy, which will help him focus on the batting and unleash the 2016 version of himself when he smashed over 900 runs.
Being one of the senior-most players of the squad, Kohli will look to contribute from the top. The former Indian skipper has scored 6283 runs so far in his IPL career with five centuries and 42 half-centuries.
2. Faf du Plessis
Faf du Plessis was bought by RCB in the IPL auction 2022 for INR 7 crore. Considering his leadership skills, while captaining South Africa, he was appointed as the new captain of the franchise. The 37-year-old did wonders for the defending champions, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), he was the second-highest run-scorer in the 2021 edition.
The former South African cricketer has given frequent starts to CSK throughout the years and will adapt the same role for his new franchise. Faf has scored 2935 runs so far in exact 100 matches.
3. Glenn Maxwell
The third name on the list is Glenn Maxwell, who excelled in the RCB middle order last year after being released by Punjab Kings (PBKS). Maxwell was bought by RCB in the 2021 auction for INR 14.25 crore, he proved his worth by performing exceptionally well alongside AB de Villiers and youngsters in the batting line-up.
In the previous season, he scored over 500 hundred runs, which led the franchise to retain him. The Aussie all-rounder has gathered 2018 runs so far in 97 games.
Bangalore will kick-off their IPL 2022 campaign on March 27 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai.