Former Indian crisquet Venkatesh Prasad criticized Royal Challengers Bengalur (RCB) for not investing in local talent on the eve of the Indian Premier League season (IPL 2025). The Venkatesh piglet called into question the franchise strategy based in Bengaluru not to show faith in local players during the T20 tournament.
The royal challengers are criticized for being largely relied on to stars and foreign talents, not to nurture local players. RCB struggled to build a strong core of local players, unlike other franchises. The team is still one of the most popular franchises even though it has not won the IPL title.
Other teams believe in local talent – Venkatesh piglets
The Karnataka Premier League (KPL) was expected to help detect local talent, but did not give the desired results for RCB. The franchise acquired some Karnatak players via IPL auction, but none had a significant impact. They have yet to integrate local players in their setting.
The Venkatesh piglet was not impressed with the royal challenges due to the priority of the brand value compared to local talent. He asked why the franchise did not show faith in local players, unlike other teams who developed local stars. The piglet called RCB to focus on making the best of his players.
“How does the team manage, it makes all the differences. Other teams believe in local talent, so why don’t RCB do the same? Do they build a brand or are they really focused on winning IPL? They need to get the best of their players, which has not happened so far,” said Venkatesh Prasad on Jiohotstar.
Royal Challengers Bengalur have two local players in their composition
Royal Challengers Bengalur currently has two local players in his squad. He has been with a franchise of 2023, but I have yet to make the IPL debut. The last time was played by a competitive cricket in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he took seven hicket in as many matches with an economy of 7.55.
Devdutt Padikkal played for the RCB as an opener before being released after the 2021 season. The following stay with Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants again joined Bengalur in the 2025 season. He recently introduced himself in Ranja Trophy, scoring 129 rides in four matches an average of 32.25.
Royal Challengers Bengalur The name Rajat Patidar as a new captain
Royal Challengers Bengalur entered the new phase after the appointment of Rajat Patidar for their captain for the IPL 2025. The patient replaced Faf du Plexis, who has led the team in the last three seasons.
RCB had a strong local presence with Karnatak stars like Anil Kumble, Rahula Dravid, Kl Rahul, Manish Pandey, Mayank Agwal and R Vinay Kumar in the first years of IPL. However, these players failed to leave a lasting impact on the franchise.
The RCB will start the IPL 2025 campaign on Friday, March 2, against the Knight Riders (KKR) champion in Eden Gardens.
Also read: “Challenged Virat Kohli to hit me”- Abrar Ahmed reveals what happened in the 2025 champion trophy
