Hello welcome to the 7th part of this series reviewing the rosters of all the IPL teams for the upcoming 2018 season. Please go and check the other posts as there’s some interesting insights to be find and let me know what you think. Today’s review we are looking at the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who could be termed as the unlucky team. Three times they have made it to the final of the tournament and lost all three times. Currently their captain is the world class Virat Kohli who has been with the team since its 2008 inception. They are coached by Daniel Vetori who has been the coach since 2014 and has a reputation as an expert twenty 20 coach.
Overall Bangalore have a decent sized squad compared to the other teams. Age wise most of their players are towards the higher age bracket but probably the most dense grouping around peak ages for a player. There is a good amount of experience throughout the squad when compared to the other teams but there are a few players towards the lower end which could effect them
Big value has been spent on Virat Kohli as you would expect but also Chris Woakes. He is the most expensive all rounder in the team and this is likely due to his ability to bowl at the death and restrict runs. He will be a key component in the bowling attack. There is also a good selection of fast bowlers to back up and good spin options in Moeen Ali and Chahal. Having both makes playing two spinners a lot easier due to Moeen’s ability with the bat.
In the treemap it looked like Bangalore had spent big money on Batsmen and it looks like that investment has paid off. The batting line up looks capable of threatening any team with high strike rates and high averages indicating long innings. I think this is clearly the best batting line up of the teams we have see so far.
All rounders it looks clear that they have aimed to go for bowling all rounders with good economy rates. This looks to be a smart move when the batting line up is as strong as it is.
When you look at the bowling attack its understand able why they have mostly aimed to go for bowling all rounders. It looks particularly weak especially for conceding runs. They will hope the bowling all rounders such as the likes of Woakes and De Grandhomme will supplement the attack.
Overall Bangalore clearly have a super strong squad with particular strength in the batting line up. If the all rounders can contribute as much as a bowler can then look out for Bangalore going far in this years tournament.
Sport Data Science 