Venkatesh Iyer
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: After years of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL auction being termed their Achilles Heel, there was a sense of excitement among the representatives during the mini-auction in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
The camp seemed to have enjoyed the day without much pressure with the luxury of a settled core, having retained the talent (17 players) that helped them to go all the way to their first-ever IPL crown.
The defending champions, in the hope of strengthening their squad, had 16.4 crore left in the bank, with eight slots and two overseas options to fill.
RCB’s eyes lit up when a certain Venkatesh Iyer went under the hammer, a player who they went chasing till Rs 23.50 crore last time around, eventually losing him to Kolkata Knight Riders at Rs 23.75 crore.
While the tussle was of smaller proportions this time, it was KKR again who showed interest in Iyer, with both teams flashing their paddles after some early attention from Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans. KKR eventually pulled out of the race against RCB, who signed Iyer for Rs 7 crore.
Though the last IPL season was slightly muted for Iyer, he remains a valuable and versatile option, especially after improving his batting against spin. However, it will be interesting to see if the management gives him a middle-order role and play an extra overseas seamer instead of all-rounder Romario Shepherd.
After picking their most prized asset, RCB went about their priority in fast bowling depth and roped in New Zealand fast bowler Jacob Duffy at a base price of Rs 2 crore.
The Challengers, then, expectedly went big on a left-arm quick in Mangesh Yadav as a back-up for Yash Dayal, signing the Madhya Pradesh pacer for Rs 5.2 crore on a day when the Indian uncapped players were in high demand.
While one of their uncapped picks stole the auction limelight, RCB also got in Satvik Deswal (Rs 30 lakh), Jordan Cox (Rs 75 lakh), Vicky Ostwal (Rs 30 lakh), Kanishk Chouhan (Rs 30 lakh), Vihaan Malhotra (Rs 30 lakh) to wrap up the 25-member squad.
A not-so experienced IPL captain who has gained a lot of trust from his faithful, a coach who has one of the best CVs going around, a Director of Cricket known to produce results and a flexible squad - Royal Challengers Bengaluru seem to have found their formula for success.
Whether they live up to the squad’s strength on paper, only time will tell. For now, they will walk away from Abu Dhabi happy.
The squad (Retentions): Abhinandan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Devdutt Padikkal, Jacob Bethell, Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, Nuwan Thushara, Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar, Rasikh Dar, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Virat Kohli, Yash Dayal
Players brought: Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 7 crore), Jacob Duffy (Rs 2 crore), Satwik Deswal (Rs 30 lakh), Mangesh Yadav (5.2 crore), Jordan Cox (75 lakh), Vicky Ostwal (Rs 30 lakh), Kanishk Chouhan (Rs 30 lakh), Vihaan Malhotra (Rs 30 lakh).