IPL Auction 2018: Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) performance at the auctions
The Royal Challengers Bangalore made a resounding entry into the auctions, having retained two of their biggest impact players in Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers along with the exciting prospect in the form of young Sarfraz Khan.
With the batting line-up given a shot in the arm with the retention of the big three, RCB was expected to beef up the bowling and add little extra firepower to suit the batting style of Kohli and AB de Villiers. While the first day of the auctions saw the Kohli-led side stock up on batting and all-rounders, the second day witnessed them break the bank to procure some of the best bowlers on offer.
RCB entered the auctions with a purse of ₹49 crore left to spend and at the end of the auctions, they managed to buy a total of 21 players and finish the auctions with a remaining purse of ₹0.15 Cr. The think-tank did well to procure quality players for not very extravagant prices and here's how the two days panned out for the Challengers.
Day 1: An eye for batsmen and all-rounders
After a very slow start to the auctions, RCB first found interest in Glenn Maxwell and Kane Williamson from the Marquee list but could not procure either players' service which prompted them to go hard on the capped batsmen' section.
The bidding seemed to find some life when the capped batsmen' set came up from which RCB procured the services of explosive New Zealander Brendon McCullum (₹3.6 Cr) but lost out on bids for Chris Lynn and local talent Manish Pandey. In the all-rounders' category, RCB went big which saw Chris Woakes earn a lucrative deal of ₹7.4 Cr while Colin de Grandhomme (₹2.2 Cr) and Moeen Ali (₹1.7 Crore) found interest from RCB as well.
Post-lunch, RCB was the first team to pick up a wicket-keeper and in that a good one - Quinton De Kock for just ₹2.8 Cr which most pundits claimed to be a steal given the South African's reputation in IPL and international cricket as a whole.
Umesh Yadav was then bought for ₹4.2 Cr while a bid for Mohammad Shami was matched by Delhi's RTM card, a favour which was returned when RCB exercised their RTM card to buy back wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal from Delhi for ₹6 crore.
The Challengers the found a liking for big names such as Rahul Tripathi, Mayank Agarwal in the uncapped batsmen list but in the end, Manan Vohra was snapped up for a decent sum of ₹1.1 Cr.
RCB's next buy was in the form of left-arm pacer Kulwant Khejroliya (₹0.85 Cr) after which Aniket Choudhary (₹0.3 Cr) and Navdeep Saini's (₹3 Cr) buy signalled the end of the action for the day.
Day 2: Bowlers command big bucks
With the top order and middle order more or less set, RCB came on the second day needing to add spice to their bowling, a strategy which was executed to pinpoint precision.
The uncapped spinners lot came up first from which RCB snapped up Murugan Ashwin for ₹2.2 Cr after bidding unsuccessfully for Shahbaz Nadeem and Krishnappa Gowtham. In what seemed like a major boost to the middle order, RCB successfully bid for Mandeep Singh (₹1.4 Cr) as well as uncapped all-rounders Washington Sundar (₹3.2 Cr) and Pawan Negi (₹1 Cr), who as a matter of fact was the second RTM choice for RCB.
With the middle order and lower middle order taken care of, RCB set their eyes on providing support for Umesh Yadav and grabbed all eyeballs by roping in the services of Mohammad Siraj (₹2.6 Cr) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (₹2.2 Cr).
Filling up the gaps with strong buys
Given the structure of the team well laid out, the Royal Challengers set out on a task to fill in the gaps and look for back-ups. More importantly, the screams for procuring local talent got louder and louder.
As the accelerated auctions came into place, RCB introduced some local flavour into the team in the form of Anirudha Joshi (₹0.2 Cr) and hard-hitting batsmen Pavan Deshpande (₹0.2 Cr) as well as seasoned campaigner Parthiv Patel (₹1.7 Cr).
In one of the strongest buys in the last session, RCB opted for the services of New Zealand seamer Tim Southee on base price to complement or play as a backup for the likes of Nathan Coulter-Nile or Chris Woakes.
How does the squad present itself as a whole?
Just as in the previous seasons, RCB's batting is one of the major positives with the likes of Brendon McCullum, Quinton De Kock set to complement Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers at the top of the order.
Youngsters Sarfraz Khan, Manan Vohra and Mandeep Singh will have to shoulder the task of floating either up or down the order as per how the situation is while Parthiv Patel's role in the team will have to be assessed on game day with Quinton De Kock set to take up the keeping duties.
All-rounders Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali and Colin de Grandhomme will undoubtedly add spice and experience to the line-up but the question remains to see as to how they will find a spot in the squad.
Young Washington Sundar, who was bought for a good sum of money might be thrust with the role of opening the bowling while the onus will be on Yuzvendra Chahal and Pawan Negi to stem the flow of runs in the middle overs.
The pace battery, led by Umesh Yadav will be an exciting prospect to watch out for with the experience of Nathan Coulter-Nile and Tim Southee set to play a huge role in the impact created in the game by the likes of Navdeep Saini, Aniket Choudhary or Kulwant Khejroliya.
What are some of the issues RCB might face?
RCB will certainly be spoilt for choices when it comes to filling up the four foreigners' slots while the finisher's role might have to be taken up by the likes of Chris Woakes if Sarfraz Khan fails to fulfil the role which indicates the ever-so-thin outlook of the middle order.
In the spin department, Yuzvendra Chahal will automatically find a spot in the eleven but it remains to see if Pawan Negi, who was brought back using the RTM card or Washington Sundar grab a spot in the team while the four foreigners rule might see the burden of the pace bowling fall entirely on the shoulders of the Indian bowlers.