Royal Challengers Bangalore- Evolution! #RCBevolution

Ever since the start of Indian Premier League, if there is one team which has entertained the most, then I honestly feel it is Royal Challengers Bangalore. Not because I root for it, but the way the play the tournament, irrespective of the number of matches they win and they do not, impresses me the most.

My dear friend, Akshay, from Mysore, a very good graphic designer, pursuing Masters in Pharmacy, had designed all the jerseys used by the Royal Challengers Bangalore and shared them on twitter.

You could find all of them here, and we would briefly discuss the evolution of "Namma" Royal Challengers Bangalore.

SEASON 1- 2008.

The inaugural match of the inaugural Indian Premier League is a match to remember for all the reasons, but as far as Royal Challengers Bangalore is concerned, the lesser you talk ,the better it is. Brendon McCullum, the then Kolkata Knight Riders player, had whiplashed the hosts, by scoring massive 158*, being the then highest run scorer in a T20 innings. And the entire season was in the similar fashion, but the boys managed to clinch 4 wins, of which two were against Deccan Chargers. One was against the franchisee based at all time arch rival for Karnataka, Chennai Super Kings, at the Chepauk and the other was against Mumbai, in Wankhede. Royal Challengers Bangalore finished at 7th position.

Virat Kohli was roped into the team as there was a special auction for the Indian u-19 players who won the ICC U-19 World Cup right before the Indian Premier League and he had played few games for the team.

SEASON 2- 2009

This season was the initial season where Royal Challengers had proved what they are capable of. The tournament was forced to be held in the South Africa. RCB had new players like Kevin Pietersen and the management had handed the captaincy to the new comer Kevin Pietersen, who was available for the first half of the season. Team started off well, with Anil Kumble getting best T20 figures of 5-5 in the inaugural match, and the team struggled while the tournament progressed. There came a situation where team needed 5 out of 5 wins to qualify for the semi finals, when Pietersen departed for international duties. Anil Kumble took charge of the team and the Kumble's boys had won all five out of five games, which meant RCB were in the semi finals of the tournament. In a match against the Deccan Chargers, Manish Pandey scored a brilliant century after being dropped by R.P. Singh at his personal score of 9 runs. With that century, he became the first Indian to score a century in IPL.

In the semi final against the arch rivals Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore managed to secure a win. In the final against Deccan Chargers, though RCB managed to dismiss the skipper Adam Gilchrist for a duck, RCB fell short of 7 wins, as Deccan Chargers went on to become the champions.

Later that year, they played the inaugural Champions League T20, and they couldn't reach the semifinal, although they advanced from the pool stage.

SEASON 3- 2010.

Indian Primier League was back to India. And the hopes of RCB fans were at peaks, considering they had displayed some brilliant performances in the previous season. Anil Kumble was made the captain, and RCB performed to their expectation, as they managed to reach the semi final and lost to Mumbai Indians in semi final. RCB had won the 3/4th place play off, to decide the third team to represent Indian Premier League in the CLT20 and they managed to get a consolation win against Deccan Chargers by knocking them off cheaply.

In the CLT20, they reached the semi final, however lost to the arch rivals Chennai Super Kings.

SEASON 4- 2011.

The contracts of all the players were completed and RCB had decided to retain the emerging star Virat Kohli, whom they've roped in at the start of IPL. Daniel Vettori was given the charges of captaincy, and in the mid season, Chris Gayle was roped in to the team. No sooner did Gayle arrive, than he announced his arrival with some big hitting, which actually took RCB to many victories. Whenever team was in trouble, Gayle used to handle the situation efficiently and took the team home.

Infact this was the season where RCB management had introduced "Game for Green" match, which they play with green jerseys. And in the very first Game for Green match, Gayle had clearly made the RCB intentions clear, "Green is just a color, Red hot whiplasing would continue" as he scored 37 runs off a single over from Prasanth Parameshwaran.

RCB managed to finish at the top of the table, and in the play offs, they had lost to Chennai Super Kings, and had won the qualifier for final against Mumbai Indians. In the final, RCB had lost to the Arch Rival Chennai Super Kings, and Chennai had won two consecutive titles in a row.

The highlight of this season was the Dil Scoop & the Vil Scoop- which meant the Dilshan's trademark scoop and the AB de Villiers' trademark scoop.

In the Champions League T20, RCB had started it off in a forgetful fashion, but the wins against Sommerset, and the humongous chase against South Australia Redbacks, who had out standing performances when compared to RCB, later lost to RCB in a dramatic finish, where Arun Karthik knocked off the last ball to a huge six when RCB needed 6 runs to win from a single ball. Thanks to the contribution of Virat Kohli and Tillekaratne Dilshan's massive partnership which kept RCB in the game and the quick cameos by players like Mayang Agarwal, Daniel Vettori earlier the match. I still remember sitting in the same chair for full 2 hours just because Dilshan had scored a boundary right when I sat on that chair.

They managed to knock out the New South Wales Blues, thanks to Chris Gayle, again, whose power hitting, which ranged upto 120m six, which blew the Blues out of tournament. RCB had successfully chased two back to back 200+ scores, but they bowed down to Mumbai Indians' mere 141 in the final.

SEASON 5- 2012.

Virat Kohli was officially made the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Gayle's power hitting, which was named "Gayle Storm" had hit India once again. Yes- Gayle's power hitting was yet again the power of RCB and they had a decent tournament through out.

 This was the Game for Green jersey which RCB had used in the 2012 season, and the match was played against Mumbai Indians. It was rain affected match and RCB had most this match.

If there was a match to remember in this season, then it was the Royal Challengers Bangalore v Deccan Chargers at Chinnaswamy, where the world's best bowler, Dale Steyn, was hit for humongous sixes by his South African counterpart, AB de Villiers and had pulled a victory from no where.

The trend of losing to Deccan Chargers at Hyderabad, which started in 2011, continued this time, and yes it was indeed costly, considering it was a do or die game for RCB. I was at the stands of Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, cheering for the RCB, but unfortunately, I was beaten badly by my friends when Gayle got out, and Kohli had taken unnecessary risk when RCB needed 30 from 25 balls.

The defeat against the DC meant RCB were out of IPL in the group stages.

SEASON 6- 2013

This version of Indian Premier League was also equally entertaining, as the Royal Challengers Bangalore had started off the season in a formidable fashion. AB de Villiers, in the national domestic duty, missed out first few matches. It was the season where RCB had two ties and had involved in two super overs. One against Sunrisers Hyderabad (the successor of Deccan Chargers) and the other against Delhi Daredevils.

I was at the stands for the first super over, cheering for RCB, but yes, RCB had continued to follow the trend of losing to Hyderabad franchisee at Hyderabad as they were crushed in the super over by the Sunrisers Hyderabad. RCB had sought the revenge against Hyderabad at the Chinnaswamy, and surprisingly the match was played the very alternate day.

Chris Gayle had been receiving some criticism for not playing so effectively, but then he answered all his critics in the game against Pune Warriors India, where he went on to score century of just 30 balls and went on to become the highest run getter in a single innings by scoring a massive 175.

The other superover, against Delhi Daredevils was one to remember, as RCB had AB de Villiers in their squad, and Ravi Rampaul his part with the ball to ensure RCB's victory in the super over.

This was the Game for Green jersey which RCB endorsed for the game against Kings XI Punjab, and Kings XI Punjab outplayed RCB to get that important victory for themselves.

Yes, RCB again fell short of points and failed to qualify for the play offs.

SEASON 7- 2014.

 This season of Indian Premier League was planned wisely by the organizers, and despite of the General Elections at India, they managed to conduct the latter part of the tournament in India, with the first half played in Dubai.

RCB had a decent beginning to the tournament, however, Chris Lynn's brilliant catch denied the RCB's victory against Kolkata. RCB had a few matches to forget, and yes, the pressure went on increasing as the tournament progressed.

RCB's first announcement of something special was on May 4th at Chinnaswamy, when AB de Villiers did smash the best bowler of the world, Dale Steyn for sixes, and pulled out a victory from no where. Yes- it was almost like watching the IPL V's RCB v DC, where the same batsmen had gone behind the best bowler of the world for some much required runs.

This season's Game for Green Match was against Chennai Super Kings, which RCB lost, and yes, even in this edition, RCB couldn't qualify for the Play Offs.

SEASON 8- 2015.

Getting into the latest season- we are still unaware how it goes. Even in form AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli, along with Chris Gayle will be crucial for RCB in this season. Mitchell Starc, the player of the tournament in the recently concluded World Cup is missing out first few matches due to injury, but still he is expected to play the crucial games for RCB.

So now, the biggest question is "Will RCB script their victory by winning the Indian Premier League 8- 2015?"



#RCBevolution #IPL2015 #NammaChallengers