RCB To Buy Brevis And MI Star; Batters IPL 2025 Champions Might Target Before Next Season

Dewald Brevis for CSK [Source: AFP Media]

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru created history in IPL 2025 by winning their first-ever title in 18 years. The team looked balanced, and the whole contributed to their championship journey. Even though they won the title, a deep analysis of the batting data reveals a few areas they can consolidate on ahead of IPL 2026.

Let us first take a look at the problems that RCB suffered during the 2025 journey, but that were undermined by their winning the trophy - 

RCB's Middle Overs Struggles

During some of the games in the tournament, we saw RCB lose a bit of momentum in the middle phase with the bat. After good starts, we saw some occasions where the scoring rate dipped in the middle overs or quick wickets stunting their progress. This could be an area the RCB management might look to strengthen ahead of the next season.

Powerplay Inefficiencies

This may look like a bit of an audacious claim on the surface. Virat Kohli and Phil Salt complemented each other brilliantly during the powerplays in most of the games gave the team some good starts.

While Salt is an aggressive opener, and Kohli looks to rotate the strike, the fact that RCB played nearly 40% of dots during the tournament reveals that they failed to take full advantage of the phase. Besides these two, the performance of the other top-order batters also suggests that it has mostly been a hit or go for RCB in the tournament. It means they are either hitting boundaries or playing dots, an area they might definitely look to rectify ahead of the next season.

Finishing woes despite sporadic brilliance

Tim David played a critical role as the designated finisher for RCB. His explosive cameos throughout the tournament masked deeper deficiencies. Besides David, we saw Romario Shepherd and Krunal Pandya stepping up on occasions. But the absence of consistent efforts in finishing transformed easy wins into close encounters with edge-of-the-seat finishes.

The Trinity Of Targets

Shimron Hetmyer From Rajasthan Royals

The Guyanese southpaw is known for his abilities as an archetypal modern finisher. He has done a decent job for the Royals during their time with them.

Shimron Hetmyer [Source: AFP Media]

But given the current structure of the Rajasthan Royals, it sometimes feels that the franchise is underusing him and not letting him unleash his full potential. So, this presents Shimron Hetmyer as a target that RCB can go for. The presence of the southpaw with Tim David will provide even more firepower to RCB and also bring in the left-handed variety in the lower order of the batting.  

Dewald Brevis From CSK

The South African prodigy joined CSK in the middle of the tournament as an injury replacement and completely changed the way the team was batting in the tournament. Dewald Brevis's ability to attack the batters from the first ball of his innings and take down spinners methodically made him a valuable component in their batting line-up.

CSK have the option to retain him and will probably do so, given that they will be strategising a restructuring of their squad around players like Brevis. So, this trade or recruitment will need RCB to bring in their best strategic diplomacy into play.

Michael Bracewell In The Mini Auction

The Kiwi all-rounder might be a valuable acquisition for the RCB. With Liam Livingstone not providing the expected value for money during the tournament, the management can consider releasing him.

Michael Bracewell [Source: AFP Media]

In his place, RCB has a great option to acquire the services of Michael Bracewell, who proved his credential with more than decent displays in the recently concluded MLC 2025. The all-rounder went unsold during the IPL 2025 auction, and hence, the defending champions might have to wait for the mini auction to include him in the squad for IPL 2026.

Strategic Restructure To Continue The Championship Spree

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru will be looking to continue the good time that has arrived for them. Winning one title does not cement your authority; you need to show consistency and keep delivering impactful shows across multiple seasons.

The management will be looking to spot the weaknesses that might have been overlooked due to their championship run. The target of the RCB management will be to address all the minor issues and come even stronger during the next season.

---

ALSO READ

Instead Of Sanju Samson, CSK Might Target KL Rahul: 2 Other Teams Who Could Join The Race

---