RCB a better balanced side now

While it was a day of mixed returns for Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday, they made some wise buys on Sunday, bolstering their bowling line-up and buying a talented all-rounder that gives them a really balanced look.

The three-time runners-up picked up teenage Tamil Nadu off-spinning all-rounder Washington Sundar for just Rs 3.2 - a steal considering his fast-rising stock - and roped in talented pacer Mohd Siraj for Rs 2.6 crore. They also bought international pacers Nathan Coulter-Nile (2.2 crore) and Tim Southee (1 crore) for reasonable sums and ensured decent spin back-ups in the form of Murugan Ashwin (2.2 crore) and using the Right To Match on Pawan Negi (1 crore).

RCB chairman Amrit Thomas was delighted with the way auction went for the team. "All-rounders are very valuable for us. Most teams have picked all-rounders with their own calculations and ideas. We were willing to go higher for Washington but we ended up getting him at a very good price. It was the case with Mohd Siraj too. We're excited about that."

Thomas also opined that the team now has a much stronger bowling unit as compared to previous years. "Every auction is a graduation ceremony to the next edition. People do a lot more research. There are scouts all over the country now. When international uncapped players are bought there's a lot of noise. Most of the teams are tracking others very closely.

"There was a point in time when we had a team we wanted. We were very sorted. We just wanted to pick a few players to cover for injuries. We think we have eight combinations. We have looked at a whole set of statistics to see what it means to economy rate. We understand what works in the death overs. We are using a different set of statistics which I don't think any cricketing team or cricketing publication uses it. We think we can put eight combinations on the field."