McCullum might open the batting with Virat Kohli

Brendon McCullum surprised everyone when announced his international retirement in February 2016 just a month before the 2016 World T20. However, he continued to play around the world in different T20 leagues. And his flamboyant nature hasn’t faded away. Yes, his hitting prowess has come down a little, but he is still of the best T20 openers going around.

McCullum has played for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Kochi Tuskers Kerala (KTK), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Gujarat Lions (GL). But this year he was picked by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the auction for Rs 3.6 crores.

Captain Virat Kohli is like to open for RCB again this year, but who should partner him?

The Royal Challengers Bangalore have a very strong squad heading into this year's IPL. Their batting unit is arguably the best in the tournament and this could be the year in which they finally win their maiden IPL title. However, one of the downsides to having a deep squad is that it causes more selection headaches. This is something which RCB are experiencing at the moment.

The biggest selection dilemma they have is who should open for them. Indeed, Bangalore have six players who could potentially open for them: Virat Kohli, Manan Vohra, Quinton de Kock, Mandeep Singh, Parthiv Patel and Brendon McCullum. Bangalore captain Virat Kohli tends to prefer to open in the IPL and so is likely to keep his spot at the top of the order again. Presuming that this is the case, there are five potential world-class opening partners at his disposal.

Brendon McCullum is not guaranteed a spot in this Bangalore XI

A superficial glance at the list would indicate that Brendon McCullum is a favourite to open since he is by far the most experienced and arguably the most explosive batsman on that list.However, his recent form of form in the Pakistan Super League was far from impressive, as he failed to get a fifty in his last ten matches. Moreover, McCullum's IPL record last year was not as good as some other players on the list.

The other overseas player who is in contention to open the batting is South African keeper-batsman Quinton de Kock. The left-hander plays a very aggressive brand of cricket, shown by his Test strike rate of 70.De Kock is coming into the tournament with a solid run of form behind him, as he hit two fifties in the Test series against Australia and had a good showing with the gloves.

It could be the case, though, that De Kock is fatigued after a very busy start to the year and may miss RCB's first game. Also, unlike the other players who could open for RCB, De Kock is known to be able to play well in the middle and lower order.

Mandeep Singh will struggle to get game time in the IPL this year

This leaves Parthiv Patel and Manan Vohra remaining. The one benefit Patel has over Vohra is that he is a keeper. However, this advantage could be ruled out if De Kock bats in the middle order and subsequently keeps for Bangalore.Therefore, looking at batting alone, it is hard to discriminate between these two players. While Patel scored more runs than Vohra last year, the former Kings XI Punjab opener scored his runs at a much higher strike rate.

When considering that one of these two will be opening alongside Kohli, it would be useful to have a batsman with a higher strike rate. Without the immediate pressure to score, Kohli can take his time to build an innings - which he will then most likely convert into a big score. The debate over who should open is a serious one and a challenging one for RCB.

Washington Sundar would be hoping that his good form continues

The 18-year-old all-rounder from Tamil Nadu has been a great find for the game of cricket. His ability to bowl with the new ball with the field restrictions makes him a valuable addition to the RCB squad. Sundar impressed everyone in his debut season last year with RPS. In 11 matches he picked up 8 wickets at an economy of 6.16. He continued his good form in the recently concluded tri-series between India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh where he took 9 wickets in 6 games at an economy of 5.66. Sundar’s addition to the team means that Kohli can use him up front to contain the opposition and then use him in the middle overs to give support to Chahal.

McCullum is one of the most experienced T20 players in the world

A name synonymous with T20 cricket, Brendon McCullum has played as many as 329 games around the world in the T20 format. Bangalore would vividly remember the first game of the IPL where McCullum scored 158* for KKR against them. Using McCullum at the top of the order would give Kohli a breather as well as a chance to bat at his original position. In his 112 IPL appearances for KKR (2008-10 and 2012-13), KTK (2011), CSK (2014-15) and GL (2017), he has scored 2956 runs at a strike rate of 131.31 and an average of 27.88. Any team would be happy to have McCullum’s services.

Chris Woakes was the joint highest wicket-taker for KKR last season

The 29-year-old English pacer is an experienced T20 campaigner and has over 100 games to his credit. Woakes played for KKR last season and was the joint highest wicket-taker for them with Umesh Yadav. In 13 appearances, he picked up 17 wickets at an economy of 8.77. Interestingly, in the auctions, RCB picked all four of KKR’s pacers – Colin de Grandhomme, Umesh Yadav, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Woakes – that bowled out RCB for 49. Woakes took 3 wickets in his 2 overs giving away just 6 runs in that game. RCB can use Woakes with the new ball as well as in the death overs.

Corey Anderson's all-around ability is going to be a great addition to RCB

The 27-year-old Kiwi all-rounder has been roped in as a replacement for Australian speedster Nathan Coulter-Nile. Anderson, who represented Mumbai Indians (2014-15) and Delhi Daredevils (2017), can prove to be a useful finisher in the lower middle order. In his previous IPL outings, Anderson scored 521 runs in 26 innings at a strike rate of 129.92. The left-arm medium pacer also bagged 8 wickets in 19 innings. Anderson’s presence in the squad will give RCB the depth that they have been lacking, along with the extra option of a seamer if any of the frontline bowlers have a bad day.

SRH looks the strongest on paper

First Choice Playing XI: David Warner (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Deepak Hooda, Yusuf Pathan, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Billy Stanlake, Siddharth Kaul

Batting: David Warner is the most fortunate captain ahead of IPL 2018, having a squad filled with stars. SRH have classy Kane Williamson, Sachin Baby, in-form Ricky Bhui, Sreevats Goswami (wk) & rookie Tanmay Agarwal as the reserved batsmen.

Bowling: Apart from the mainstay bowlers, one-time champs have Basil Thampi, Sandeep Sharma, Chris Jordan, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan & Bipul Sharma as backup options.

All-rounder: The long list continues with Carlos Brathwaite & Mohammad Nabi as the seam-bowling and spin-bowling all-rounders respectively.

Kings XI Punjab got the much needed revamp

First Choice Playing XI: Aaron Finch, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (wk), Karun Nair, Yuvraj Singh, David Miller, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Andrew Tye, Mohit Sharma

Batting: You know you already have a threatening batting line-up if you got Chris Gayle to warm the benches. Kings XI Punjab is blessed to have some really good batsmen in the supply that include the experienced Manoj Tiwary, Akshdeep Nath (wk) and of course the Universe Boss.

Bowling: Apart from their starting eleven, seamers like Barinder Sran, Ankit Rajpoot, underrated Ben Dwarshuis, spinners including uncanny Mujeeb Zadran & rookie Pradeep Sahu reserved their spots in Lion's den.

All-rounder: Perhaps the only area where KXIP lacks is a genuine all-rounder who can replace Marcus Stoinis if the unfortunate happens. But that won't be a concern for the management as they bat very deep & can include a genuine seamer to make Axar bat at 7, which he did up to this time.

Gauti returns to lead his home team after eight longs years

Indian Premier League is quite a long tournament as compared to its rival leagues, going on for around 6-8 weeks. We often observe the IPL teams lose momentum halfway into the tournament due to injuries or some players undergoing a bad-patch in their career.

The unfortunate is unpredictable, on account of which, the franchises aim to build the replacements for their mainstream players beforehand to prevent their team from suffering during the tournament.

Can the perfect blend of players help RCB lift the trophy?

First Choice Playing XI: Parthiv Patel (wk), Brendon McCullum, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Mandeep Singh, Pawan Negi, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal

Batting: Even after having a ferocious batting line-up, RCB has Quinton de Kock (wk), Manan Vohra, and young Sarfaraz Khan on the bench. Virat Kohli is lucky to have a vast number of options in the middle-order as well as at the top.

Bowling: Bowling is the factor that has always let them down in the past. Coming in 2018, things are different for them with seamers like Tim Southee, Mohammad Siraj, Aniket Chaudhary, talented rookie Navdeep Saini & in-form Kulwant Khejroliya in reserve. The spin-attack is backed up by leggie Murugan Ashwin after already having three spinners in the eleven.

All-rounder: RCB has a variety in the most important aspect of a team in modern-day cricket. Colin de Grandhomme & Moeen Ali will be the ones to keep a cushion behind the mainstream all-rounders like Chris Woakes, Pawan Negi & Washington Sundar.