Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru head coach Sanjay Bangar has noted that the franchise’s focus has been towards bagging experienced players ahead of IPL 2026. Bangar revealed that earlier the defending champions used to bank upon young players.
Meanwhile, RCB had roped in the services of Venkatesh Iyer for 7 crore in IPL 2026 mini auction and the Madhya Pradesh all-rounder has the experience of playing for India. Furthermore, Rajat Patidar’s team had roped in Mangesh Yadav and Jacob Duffy for INR 5.2 crore and INR 2 crore, respectively.
“This team has taken a pivot. I was with that team, and they used to emphasize a lot on youngsters, that they needed to be promoted, and a very good scouting team was made. However, now, the pivot has been towards the experienced players,” the former India all-rounder, Bangar said on Star Sports.
“So whichever players they have taken, as you spoke about Venkatesh Iyer, he is a proven experienced player. He has played for India. You have a place for eight Indians, if you include the impact player, and seven of the eight players have played for India. This has become a huge strength of this team,” he added.
Meanwhile, Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma were RCB’s main spinners in the previous edition and it was deemed to be the team’s Achilles Heel. However, Bangar said the team had surprised a lot of people with their spin performance.
“We discussed last year as well whether this team has a weakness. About spin, you can say not sure, but they surprised us there, because when the match was stuck in the final and many other times, even against MI at the Wankhede, Krunal Pandya came and provided important breakthroughs,” he replied.
The former Indian all-rounder said Suyash Sharma performed better than the expectations in the last edition.
“He is a bowler because of whom you cannot say that spin is a weak area. Suyash Sharma has performed well. We weren’t expecting that much consistency, but he has bowled better than that. They have also chosen a few good backup players,” Bangar observed.
RCB will begin their IPL defense against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Bengaluru on 28th March.
