Royal Challengers Bangalore are undoubtedly one of the most high-profile franchises in the Indian Premier League history. RCB are known for splashing huge money in the IPL auctions and this year's auction is expected to be the same.
Earlier, RCB decided to part ways with some of their big names like Dale Steyn, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis and 8 others. With Mike Hesson been appointed as the new Director of Cricket Operations and Simon Katich at the head coach role, RCB will look to recruit the players who provide balance to their side.
In the past, RCB have made some huge blunders during the auction processes like buying the veteran Yuvraj Singh for whopping 16 crores and retaining young Sarfaraz Khan over T20 specialists like Chris Gayle and KL Rahul.
Here are the three players Royal Challengers Bangalore could target in the IPL 2020 auction on December 19:
Pat Cummins
The Australian pacer is a kind of player who can help RCB to rejuvenate their bowling attack after dismissal show in the past few years. It's pretty evident that RCB have always performed well in the batting department but when it comes to bowlers they lack a fast bowler who can pick wickets since the departure of Mitchell Starc. Cummins is currently one of the best bowlers in world cricket and he has the perfect ammunition to trouble any batting line up with his serious pace and bounce. RCB skipper has always been an admirer of quality pace bowlers and Cummins might be the man for him. The last time when Cummins was part of the IPL was in 2017 where he had an impressive season with 15 wickets in 12 matches.
Chris Lynn
Since the departure of Chris Gayle, the Royal Challengers Bangalore team structure lacked an explosive opening batsman. Chris Lynn might be the answer of their big problem, Kolkata Knight Riders released the lanky Australian opener after 6 years where he scored 1280 runs in 41 matches at an impressive strike rate of 140.65. Lynn will surely attract many IPL franchise so if RCB want to acquire his services then they might need to splash some big bucks on him. RCB will enter the auction with 27.90 crores in their kitty, so only proper planning will help you in getting a player like Lynn.
Evin Lewis
The flamboyant Windies opener will be on the radar of many IPL franchise who are in search of an opener and one of them is RCB. After Lynn, Lewis will be the prime target of RCB for the opening slot. If Bangalore misses out on Lynn due to limitations of purse amount then Lewis will be the best option for them to produce some fireworks in the opening. Lewis was released by Mumbai Indians as they have a dynamic opening duo of Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma, but that doesn't mean Lewis is inferior to any batsmen. The southpaw has the firepower to win the matches on his own.
Players Retained: 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
Players released: Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetymer, Akshdeep Nath, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Colin de Grandhomme, Prayas Barman, Tim Southee, Kulwant Khejroliya, Himmat Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Milind Kumar and Dale Steyn.
Purse remaining: Rs 27.90 crores
Slots available: 12 (six overseas)
