IPL 2025: 3 Reasons why RCB can’t win the title

Royal Challengers Bengaluru are still awaiting their first-ever Indian Premier League title, and 2025 promises to be another testing season for the team. However, RCB assembled a decent squad in the IPL 2025 auction held in Jeddah on November 25 and 26. 

After not retaining Faf Du Plessis for the IPL 2025, they appointed right-handed batsman Rajat Patidar as their captain. RCB had retained Virat Kohli for Rs 21 crore, Rajat Patidar for Rs 11 crore, and Yash Dayal for Rs 5 crore ahead of the mega auction. During the auction, Royal Challengers Bengaluru added 19 players from the bidding war, creating a pool of 22 players.  

The 2016 runners-up RCB, who historically had been a batting heavy side, tried to make the best possible team in the auction. Only time will tell whether the strategy adopted by the management at the auction will work or backfire and dash their hopes of lifting the maiden IPL crown.

3 possible reasons why RCB can't win the IPL 2025 title

1. RCB's weakness in the spin department

The biggest disadvantage RCB have is no frontline spin option in the squad. Indian pitches have always supported the spinners but the team without a frontline spinner cannot dictate middle overs which can be very costly in defending the target and also will be extremely difficult to restrict the opposition within a reasonable score.

They will be very much dependent on Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma. Pandya was below par last season, averaging 42.50 and had taken a mere 6 wickets in the 14 matches he had played for the franchise. He is not the kind of bowler who can take bulk of wickets and can bowl anytime within 20 overs. So, the pressure will be sky-high on Krunal to prove his value to the management.

Another option is Suyash Sharma, who had only played a few games for his earlier franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, taking 10 wickets in 13 matches. He is a promising youngster, however, still, it is too much for him to deliver in such high stakes, especially on the Bengaluru ground with small boundaries. 

2 Lack of quality Indian fast bowlers

The other gap in the RCB line-up is no backup fast bowlers to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal. They will be heavily dependent on these two and don’t have any other options too, apart from keeping these two together in a Playing XI. This can also tire the bowlers in the long format where you play 14 matches in a league stage with the tedious travel required to do. 

It will be a huge disadvantage for RCB if any of them picks up an injury or are not in form considering the team is already short of options in both Indian pace and spin departments. 

3 Foreign batters weakness against spin

RCB have dangerous overseas batters in the form of Tim David and Liam Livingstone who are good on pitches where the bowl comes nicely on bat and on bouncy pitches against fast bowlers but lack technique and adaptability against spin. Opponents will target this weakness in middle and death overs, thus it will be difficult for Bengaluru to put a stamp on crucial phases of the game.

Over-reliance on the top 3 probable batters- Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, and Rajat Patidar will leave the middle and lower middle order weak, this has been a problem for RCB over the years which they have failed to overcome.

Although Royal Challengers Bengaluru have a good squad, taking the chokers tag off and winning their first-ever men’s IPL trophy will be extremely tough.

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