People were really upset with the choices RCB made in the 2024 Indian Premier League auction. They let go of well-known players like Josh Hazlewood and Wanindu Hasaranga, and some people didn’t think they replaced them with good enough players.
Even though Royal Challengers Bangalore has never won the IPL, they’ve had some amazing bowlers in the past like Anil Kumble, Muttiah Muralitharan, Daniel Vettori, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mitchell Starc, and Dale Steyn. But now, their current bowling lineup doesn’t seem as strong. Still, fans need to support the new bowlers and believe in the team for the upcoming season. Before the next competition starts, fans can remember some great bowling moments from the team’s past.
Here’s the list of RCB’s 5 greatest bowling performances of all time in IPL:
5. Daniel Vettori’s 3/19 against Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2011
Daniel Vettori led RCB in 2011, and they did really well, coming in second place. He, as a bowler, took 12 wickets in 13 matches, giving away few runs. His best game was against Mumbai Indians. RCB batted first, with Chris Gayle scoring 89 runs. Then, when MI batted, Vettori bowled amazingly, taking 3 important wickets. Thanks to his great bowling, RCB limited MI to 142 runs and made it to the final against Chennai Super Kings.
4. Shane Watson’s 4/29 against Gujarat Lions (GL) in 2016
Shane Watson played for RCB for two years in 2016 and 2017. In 2016, he bowled really well against Gujarat Lions at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Iqbal Abdulla, another player from RCB, started well with the ball, and Shane Watson kept up the good work.
In the fourth over of the game, Watson got the captain of Gujarat Lions, Suresh Raina, out. This helped RCB control the game. Even though Gujarat Lions lost some early wickets, Dinesh Karthik and Dwayne Smith made a good partnership of 85 runs and stabilized their team’s batting. But then Chris Jordan from RCB took Karthik’s wicket, which put Gujarat in trouble again.
Watson took advantage of this situation and got two more important players, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo, out. He finished his bowling with good figures of 4 wickets for 29 runs, which helped RCB restrict Gujarat to 158 runs. RCB eventually won the match by four wickets, thanks to Shane Watson’s excellent bowling.
3. Mitchell Starc’s 4/15 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in 2015
Mitchell Starc from Australia was a really important bowler for RCB in 2014 and 2015. He took 20 wickets in 13 matches in 2015, which was the most by any bowler that season. In one match against Punjab Kings (back then they were called Kings XI Punjab) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Starc did his best bowling, taking 4 wickets for just 15 runs.
In the same match, Chris Gayle, a powerful batsman, played amazingly and scored his fifth century in the IPL. He made a brilliant 117 runs off 57 balls, helping RCB set a huge target of 227 runs for Punjab. After Gayle’s incredible batting, Starc came back to bowl and took control again, helping RCB win by a massive 138 runs.
Starc started RCB’s bowling attack, getting the batsman Manan Vohra out in the first over of the game. Then, he took three more wickets, getting Mitchell Johnson, Anureet Singh, and Karanveer Singh out.
2. Wanindu Hasaranga’s 5/18 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in 2022
Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga was RCB’s top bowler in 2022. He took 26 wickets in 16 matches. At Wankhede Stadium, he played exceptionally well and helped RCB beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 67 runs.
RCB had scored 192 runs, and their bowlers made it hard for SRH to score. Hasaranga was particularly impressive, taking 5 wickets for 18 runs in his four overs. Even SRH’s key players, Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran, struggled against him.
1. Anil Kumble’s 5/5 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in 2009
In the 2009 IPL season, Rajasthan Royals played their first match against RCB in Cape Town, South Africa. They scored only 58 runs while trying to chase RCB’s score of 134, which was their lowest ever in IPL history.
Anil Kumble, playing for RCB, was the star of the match. He bowled exceptionally well, taking five wickets in just 3.1 overs. He dismissed Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Shane Warne, Munaf Patel, and Kamran Khan.
Even though Rahul Dravid scored 66 runs for RCB, it was Kumble’s amazing bowling performance that made the match memorable for RCB fans.
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