The Royal Challengers Bangalore are one of the serious contenders for IPL 2016, with players like Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Shane Watson and Chris Gayle in the team. RCB coach Daniel Vettori believes Watson and Stuart Binny make their squad well-balanced.
The RCB made some smart buys in IPL 2016 Player Auction in February after retaining a number of stars from last season. Watson, Binny, Kane Richardson and Travis Head were the best buys in the auction for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. In Watson and Binny, RCB have fine all-rounders, which they were missing last season. These players provide RCB great depth in their squad, which gives their team management a chance to explore.
"Very happy with team. Last year, we did lots of things really well but the likes of (Shane) Watson and (Stuart) Binny give us a really balanced squad," Asian Age quoted Vettori as saying.
Vettori, who also played for RCB in the past, understands the importance of all-rounders in the shortest format of the game. Other teams in the past have achieved success with their all-rounders and RCB wants to adopt a similar winning formula. Besides Watson and Binny, they have other players like Gayle, who can also roll his arm over for one or two overs. If the others bowl well, they could be handed a full quota of four overs as well.
"To have those guys that have the ability to bat in the top order and bowl four overs is a real luxury. You look at the teams that have been successful in the IPL so far — Chennai with the likes of Jadeja, Raina and Bravo and KKR as well with Shakib. So we're banking on the fact that we have six or seven bowling options," Vettori said.
RCB are primarily going to depend on their batsmen such as Kohli, Gayle, de Villiers, who played an integral role last year for the team. These players, when on song, can make life miserable for any top bowler in the IPL. Kohli has been in scintillating form of late for India and will be eager to carry the same when he wears RCB jersey in 2016.
With such players in the top order, and the T20 primarily being a batsmen's game, they have a batting line-up to defeat any team.
