RCB haven't answered all questions in IPL 2021 auction: Parthiv Patel

IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore led by Indian skipper Virat Kohli is one of the most talked-about teams in the league and boasts of having a massive fan base. However, despite having players like Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Yuzvendra Chahal in the squad, the franchise has failed to win even a single IPL trophy.

The 2020 edition of the T20 Extravaganza saw the team having a good start to their campaign as they won seven out of their first ten league games. However, the league didn’t end on a good note for the franchise as they lost their last four league games on a trot followed by a defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Eliminator.

When asked whether Royal Challengers Bangalore will have the right start in IPL 2020, former RCB player Parthiv Patel reckoned, “It all matters how you are ending the tournament, doesn’t it? I think we have seen Mumbai Indians so many times, not starting the tournament well, but picking at the right time, but once they get to the business end of the tournament, you know if they have to win five out of five, they have the team to go win it in Kolkata.”

Further, Patel asserted that RCB wasn’t able to fill all the loopholes in the team during the auction as they didn’t consider the option of playing outside their home ground in Bangalore. The teams won’t be playing any games on their home grounds as BCCI has decided to conduct the entire tournament on neutral venues.

If Moeen Ali was there, it would have been a different XI altogether: Parthiv Patel

Patel believes that the decision of releasing Moeen Ali for IPL 2021 wasn’t good as playing on the pitches of Chennai, Moeen would have added a lot of value to the side and could have proved to be an x-factor for the team. “There were a lot of questions to be answered in the auction, but I don’t think they have answered those questions. Just because they were not expecting it to go out of Bangalore. 

“Hence, Moeen Ali went. If Moeen Ali was there, it would have been a different XI altogether. And one player actually can change the composition of the XI. As he rightly said, attention was to try to get away from ABD and Virat, but how much attention they are trying to win it away inside the team will matter the most and not outside of the team,” said Parthiv Patel while speaking on Star Sports show Game Plan