Royal Challengers Bangalore is an IPL franchise with a huge fan base but it is also a franchise that has not won the IPL trophy even once since the start of the league in 2008. It has reached the Finals in 2009, 2011, and 2016 but failed to cross the final hurdle on all three occasions. Over the years, RCB is a team that has been built on batting. It has always had great batsmen but not great bowlers in their team.
RCB has also tried to get some local talent so that those guys know the home conditions better than anybody else. The likes of KL Rahul, Karun Nair, and Manish Pandey have been a part of the franchise. Even in the current RCB side, they have Devdutt Padikkal who is from Karnataka. Having said that there are a few famous Karnataka players who haven’t played for RCB in the IPL, so, let’s have a look at four such players.
4. Jagadeesha Suchith
Jagdeesha Suchith is one of those spinners who got to play in the IPL even before making his first-class debut. The left-arm spinner from Karnataka has played in the IPL for Mumbai Indians and has been a part of the Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab squad.
Suchith has played 15 IPL games picking up 12 wickets but once he was a part of a famous partnership with Harbhajan Singh against Kings XI Punjab. Suchith hasn’t got a chance to play for Royal Challengers Bangalore and with age not on his side it seems as if he won’t get a chance to play for RCB.
3. Prasidh Krishna
Prasidh Krishna, the tall fast bowler from Karnataka made his IPL debut for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2018. The 24-yead old pacer has got some pace and likes to hit the deck hard while bowling. Krishna has played 24 IPL games and picked up 18 wickets.
The numbers don’t look impressive but he has had some good performances with the ball. He hasn’t played for any other IPL team than KKR but with a Mega Auction coming up next year and Virat Kohli’s love for fast bowlers it wouldn’t be a surprise if he gets picked by the RCB team.
2. Shreyas Gopal
Shreyas Gopal is a leg-spinner from the Karnataka side who tends to go under the radar for his IPL team. He has been a part of the Rajasthan Royals team since 2018 but his performances don’t get noticed. He has been a regular and has done well for them in each season. In fact, Gopal tends to better against RCB as he has picked up the wicket of Kohli and ABD a few times.
Gopal even picked up a hat-trick against RCB in a five-over game which got abandoned in the end. He picked up the wickets of Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers, and Marcus Stoinis. He was also a part of the MI Squad but hasn’t played for RCB. If he plays for RCB it would be fun to watch the combination of Yuzvendra Chahal and Shreyas Gopal.
1. Krishnappa Gowtham
Krishnappa Gowtham is another Karnataka spinner who has been playing in the IPL but hasn’t played for RCB. He was a part of the MI Squad but didn’t get a game and then Rajasthan Royals bought him in the 2018 Mega Auction. He was in and out of the team but he did well for them in 2018 and 2019.
Even after the good performances, he was traded to Kings XI Punjab where he got only a handful of games. He is an off-spinner who can bowl in the powerplay and he can play some great cameos with the bat towards the end of the innings. Gowtham hasn’t played for RCB but being a local he might end up doing well in that team if given an opportunity.
