XtraTime Web Desk: Royal Challengers Bangalore spinner Moeen Ali feels over reliance on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers cannot help the franchise win the Indian Premier League (IPL). Moeen, who is one of the two foreign players retained by the Bangalore franchise said, “We cannot keep relying on Virat and AB de Villiers to win us games. Batters like myself and whomsoever is coming in, have to step up and bat well.”
RCB along with Kings XI Punjab are the only franchise who has not won the cash rich league. The Bangalore franchise shows a lot of promise and has an abundance of talent but flatters to deceive every year in the cash-rich league. But, the results have just not come their way and RCB is yet to win the trophy in 12 seasons. In fact, RCB”s best performance till date across all the IPL editions is the runners-up finish in 2016. The Bangalore-based franchise finished at the bottom in the last IPL.
England all-rounder believes RCB needs to have a good start in IPL 2020 in order to make it to the playoffs and the win the title.
“We need a good start. I think we always start slowly. We need to be brave, especially at home because the wicket in Bengaluru is very good. The boundaries are small over there and it”s very daunting for the bowlers,” Moeen told IANS on the sidelines of the ongoing Abu Dhabi T10 league.
RCB have released as many as 12 players including mid-season replacement Dale Steyn for IPL 2020. IPL auctions are set to take place on December 19 in Kolkata.
Squad: Virat Kohli, Moeen Ali, Yuzvendra Chahal, AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Pawan Negi, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Mann, Devdutt Padikkal, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini.