One of the most popular franchises of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is all ready to get down to business for the upcoming 13th season of IPL.
The Virat Kohli-led side is set to board the flight for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday (August 21).
The Bangalore-based franchise announced a 40-member squadron on Thursday for the 2020 edition of the lucrative league.
The group comprises of 21 players, two throwdown specialists, two personnel – sports psychologists, five net bowlers, along with Director of the team, coaches of all three departments (batting, bowling fielding), and the head coach as well.
Here’s the complete list:
Players: Virat Kohli (c), Aaron Finch, Kane Richardson, Joshua Philippe, AB de Villiers, Christopher Morris, Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana, Moeen Ali, Devdutt Padikkal, Gurkeerat Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Parthiv Patel, Pawan Negi, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahamad, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Net Bowlers: Aman Kumar, Chetan Sakariya, Pravin Dubey, Aditya Thakare, Sushant Mishra.
Coaching and support staff: Mike Hesson (Director of Cricket), Simon Katich (Head Coach), Adam Griffith (Bowling Coach), Evan Speechly (Head Physiotherapist), Malolan Rangarajan (Head of Scouting & Fielding Coach), Navnita Gautam (Sports Massage Specialist), Sabyasachi Sahoo (Assistant Physiotherapist), Shankar Basu (Strength & Conditioning Coach), Sriram Sridharan (Batting & Spin Bowling Coach), Ramesh Mane (Sports Massage Specialist), Dr. Charles Minz (Team Doctor), Dr Chaitanya Sridhar (Sports Psychologist), Gabriel Ben Kurian (Left-handed Flicker), Dinesh Puttepu (Right-Handed Flicker).
“RCB’s biggest strength lies in love and support the team gets from their fans, and this is going to be a very different season where there will be no crowds cheering in the stadiums and no fans crowding the streets chanting their wishes,” said Sanjeev Churiwala, the Chairman of RCB regarding the preparation of the team.
“Also, the team is going to be isolated in a bio bubble for over two months, making it imperative that we implement all necessary measures for their physical and mental wellbeing. We have always strived to create a culture of excellence at RCB, and in a year like this, it is even more important that we give all the right support to the team so that they can walk into the stadiums roaring as true challengers,” he added.
The Challengers will conduct a 3-week camp from August 29 in the Gulf nation. In the previous editions, RCB have reached three finals, but have not yet won the tournament. The Kohli and Co. will be hoping to change their fortunes in the upcoming season of the cash-rich league.
