Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are one of the most decorated teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL). They’ve had some of the biggest names of world cricket and yet, their trophy cabinet is bare and empty. One of the few reasons may be consistency among players. Something that Mumbai Indians (MI) have done really well. Hence, they’ve won four IPL titles and are the most successful team.

However, there have been a few players who have found more success and backing from RCB and the same players didn’t get the same from MI. There are a few players who’ve been backed really well by RCB over the years. Hence, here we look at three such players who RCB backed but MI didn’t.

 Here are the three players:

1. Manish Pandey

Manish Pandey was first spotted in the IPL when he smoked the first-ever IPL ton by an Indian in 2009. Not a lot of people know, neither was that his IPL debut nor was that his first game with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). After a successful 2008 Under-19 World Cup, Mumbai Indians (MI) had bought Pandey but gave him only three games.

However, the switch to RCB in 2008 worked wonders and that really kickstarted his IPL career. They backed him for a couple of years and the Karnataka lad was able to make a name for himself in that period.

In only his third game with RCB, Pandey smashed an unbeaten 114 and became RCB’s mainstay. He even scored a 48 in the semi-final of 2009 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to help RCB qualify for the final. In 2010, Pandey played 13 out of the 15 games that RCB played, despite having lowish returns as a batsman.

2. Yuzvendra Chahal

No bowler has more wickets than Yuzvendra Chahal’s 100 for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). In fact, more than half of wickets have come at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru which is known to be a graveyard for the bowlers. The Haryana leg-spinner has become a key player for RCB and season after season, he’s put in some excellent performances.

However, it wasn’t the RCB that Chahal first made an appearance. The leg-spinner was with the Mumbai Indians (MI) between 2011 and 2013 and even played quite a few Champions League T20 games. However, he played just one IPL game and that was in 2013.

But since 2014, RCB backed him to the hilt. Chahal has played at least 13 games every season since then. RCB skipper Virat Kohli has shown great confidence in the young leg-spinner and backs him to deliver all the time.

3. Vinay Kumar

Vinay Kumar is one of the greats in Karnataka cricket. He has been excellent in domestic cricket for them, both as a captain and as a bowler. Moreover, he was a regular in the IPL as well until 2015.

Kumar was with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for the first three seasons where he played 33 games. He was one of the key pacers for the team. In 2011, he moved to Kochi Tuskers Kerala (KTK) before moving back to RCB in 2012. He was with his home franchise for a couple more seasons where he played 31 games across the two seasons.

In 2015, the Karnataka pacer was bought by Mumbai Indians (MI) but Kumar didn’t get as many chances. Across three seasons, he played 17 games, with 13 of those coming in the 2015 edition.