What’s the story?

The Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise has already identified players they would like to retain for the next year’s Indian Premier League said RCB skipper, Virat Kohli after they wrapped up this year’s IPL on a winning note beating the Delhi Daredevils by 10 runs at the Firoz Shah Kotla on Sunday. They, however, remained bottom of the table a year after finishing runners-up winning only three games the whole season.

While speaking after the game, Kohli said, "It has been a season to forget and reflect on. We have to start fresh as a franchise. Maybe a blessing in disguise. Depends on how many players we can retain. But we do have guys who we have identified. Some guys who have shown the right kind of attitude and the mindset to go out there and perform under pressure situations."

In case you didn’t know...

IPL 2017 has been very disturbing for RCB and their fans, winning only three games from their quota of 14 – finishing at the bottom of the pile with just seven. The highest run-getter for their season Virat Kohli who just managed to cross the 300 mark in the concluding game.

Also read: Yuvraj Singh in IPL: The transformation from 2008-2017 in pictures

The heart of the matter

AB de Villiers seemed woefully out of form this season while the duo of Chris Gayle and Shane Watson seemed to have age catch up with them. The team also missed the presence of KL Rahul and Mitchell Starc – both of whom missed the tournament owing to injuries.

Whilst the absence of the star players meant that there was huge opportunity for the youngsters to come out and make a mark for themselves but none in RCB colours could do so. The team also suffered as peripheral stars like Yuzhvendra Chahal and Kedar Jadhav make to make their presence felt as well.


What’s next?

All failures seen in this season forces the think tank of the franchise to think twice while drafting the list for retaining the players for the future. Although the skipper has said that players who are to be retained have already been identified, it is tricky to decide who stays and who is released.

Author’s take

After this debacle of a season, it is time for RCB to hit the restart button. This season certainly feels like the end of the road for IPL stalwarts Chris Gayle and Shane Watson and one would be very surprised to see them in RCB colours next season. The Bangalore franchise, however, could and should keep faith in the likes of AB de Villiers, Yuzhvendra Chahal and possibly Kedar Jadhav.

Also read: A 'right to match' option could be the last hope for IPL teams to retain their biggest stars