A new captain but familiar challenges await Royal Challengers Bengaluru

What's new with Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the new cycle?

A new captain for starters. Rajat Patidar will have big shoes to fill when he starts doing a role that is bound to come under immense scrutiny. Captaining a franchise that has one of the more difficult home grounds will be the biggest challenge on his agenda. Typically a high-scoring ground with short boundaries has traditionally made it difficult to build an ideal bowling attack. Since 2017, no team has a worse home record than RCB's with their win percentage of 44.12 underscoring the challenge that is on offer.

On that front, RCB have made some picks that look good on paper. The experience that the likes of Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood bring to the table seems a fresh gamble. A lot will hinge on how they counter the Chinnaswamy challenge for RCB's progress in IPL 2025.

The batting too has some new faces with a distinct English flavour. Phil Salt, Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell come in with good T20 credentials, but at least two of them would have big roles to play in the template that RCB have operated with previously. Salt upfront offers a firepower foil to Virat Kohli, and it remains to be seen if he can forge a successful partnership like his predecessor Faf du Plessis managed. Livingstone brings the muscle in the middle alongside his assorted spin which could aid when match-ups are called for. In Tim David and Romario Shepherd, there is more explosiveness in the lower middle-order where Jitesh Sharma, the replacement for Dinesh Karthik, has a big role to play. While they have like-for-like replacements for some successful roles in the past, it's the current form that these players carry in that would be of early interest.

Full Squad

Rajat Patidar (c), Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Jacob Bethell, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Tim David, Swastik Chikara, Krunal Pandya, Manoj Bhandage, Swapnil Singh, Mohit Rathee, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Lungi Ngidi, Rasikh Dar Salam, Suyash Sharma, Yash Dayal, Nuwan Thushara, Abhinandan Singh

The best XII as things stand

Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma/Rasikh Dar Salam

Injury/Availability Concerns

Josh Hazlewood is returning after a long period in the sidelines and his fitness could play a key factor in how the bowling line-up is fashioned. They do have other overseas pace options in Lungi Ngidi and Nuwan Thushara as back-up but RCB would be keen to have a bowler of Hazlewood's caliber fit and firing.

The player with a point to prove is...

Devdutt Padikkal

Once considered to be the next big thing from Karnataka's batting factory, Padikkal has been off-colour in batting positions that haven't allowed him to exploit the field restrictions in the powerplay. Now with a good chance of finding a spot in the top-order, Padikkal could have a shot at redeeming some of that lost glory.

A player who could have a breakout season?

Rasikh Dar Salam

Whether he starts straightaway is up for debate but had managed to create an impact with Delhi Capitals when he got the chances last season. At RCB, in an unforgiving ground, even a small impact could go a long way to help him stand out in his early years.

Fixture build-up and run-in...

Their first home game isn't until they have already played two away. But they will finish the league stages with two games at home. At the back-end if there is a scramble for points or NRR as it often happens in the IPL, RCB will at least have some comfort in knowing what needs to be done better than the opposition.

A home ground stat to watch out for this season

Across the last two seasons, RCB have bowled the fewest share of overs of spin (29.1%) and have been the most expensive. The Chinnaswamy stadium has been the second most expensive venue for spinners in this period (ER 9.24), just marginally behind Hyderabad (9.26). With the likes of Krunal, who has an economy rate of 7.25 in the venue, and Suyash Sharma, RCB will be hoping to better these numbers to even the scales.