KL Rahul or Rishabh Pant - who should RCB target in IPL 2025 Auction?
The 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction is less than a fortnight away and all 10 teams must be burning the midnight oil to finalize their Plan A to Z for the event. While some teams have retained several core players, others like the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will go into the auction with a near-clean slate.
While the franchise has made three retentions in Virat Kohli (₹21 crores), Rajat Patidar (₹11 crores), and Yash Dayal (₹5 crores), most of the squad must be built from scratch in the auction. As justified as RCB's bowlers being made scapegoats for their failure to win an IPL title has been, other holes have often gone unnoticed.
One such is the depth in batting and the overdependence of one or two batters, resulting in timid starts - a no-no in modern-day T20 cricket.
The solution? The dream acquisition of one of the senior Team India wicketkeeper-batters KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, both released by their respective franchises. An Indian gloveman with match-winning ability and versatility with the bat is worth its weight in gold - Ask the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) with a certain MS Dhoni all about it.
Yet, deciding the No.1 option between Rahul and Pant is an arduous task for the RCB management - one that requires factoring in several tangibles and intangibles.
As the RCB fans continue their 'ee sala cup namde' chants, let us find out who the franchise should target between KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant in the IPL 2025 auction.
#1 Both Rahul and Pant tick the 'fit' box in unique ways
Talking about the gospel for squad building - the right fit, both KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant tick most of the boxes in their unique ways. In Rahul, RCB has someone who can keep wickets or play a fielder, bat anywhere from 1 to 6, and play pace and spin equally well.
Similarly, with Pant, RCB will have a left-hander to complement the right-handers in Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar. Wicket-keeping apart, the southpaw can also bat anywhere in the middle order and play both the innings-building and the attacking role.
If Rahul provides more versatility from a batting position standpoint, Pant's left-handedness and better tempo-switch check the versatility box just as much.
With RCB having to build most of their squad at the auction, the uncertainty around the players they may eventually land makes picking as many multi-faceted ones a key factor. Rahul and Pant provide that as much as any other current Indian cricketers.
#2 The numerous Bengaluru connections that scream KL Rahul over Rishabh Pant
It is hard to quantify the value of a homegrown player respecting a particular franchise, considering such players haven't always delivered optimum results. Yet, the KL Rahul-Bengaluru connection offers several tangible positives that are hard to ignore.
The 32-year-old has played all his cricket at various levels for Karnataka, making a strong case that he knows the Chinnaswamy wicket better than even the state's most experienced curators. Also worth remembering is that Rahul's breakthrough IPL season with the bat came for RCB in 2016.
The stylish right-hander scored 397 runs batting in the middle-order at an average of over 44 and a strike rate of 146.49 to help RCB finish as runner-up. One could argue the 2016 IPL season was the franchise's best in their predominantly tormented history and Rahul played a massive role in that.
His return to the franchise might also be a more heartwarming story, re-energizing the already vocal Chinnaswamy crowd and adding a new dimension to RCB's 2025 season.
Hence, if words like tried-and-tested, past evidence, and nostalgic connections are part of RCB's auction dictionary, they should look no further than KL Rahul as their No.1 choice among Indian players.
#3 Rishabh Pant wins the 'What have you done recently' battle
As important and often understated as the intangibles are, the simplest selection policy weighs the most recent performances and overall current mindset in the bigger scheme of things to choose between players.
Here, it is hard to argue with Pant over Rahul in any way, shape, or form. The former Delhi Capitals (DC) captain enjoyed a spectacular return from a one-year injury absence in IPL 2024, averaging over 40 at a strike rate of 155.40.
While Rahul's IPL 2024 numbers weren't all that bad with an average and strike combination of 37.14 and 136.12, his impact was missing as the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) struggled for much of the season.
Beyond just the IPL, Pant also played a key role in helping India win the 2024 T20 World Cup, while Rahul has been excluded from the T20I squad since the end of the 2022 T20 World Cup.
Just the overall batting in recent times suggests Pant may be in the form of his life with incredible performances in the Bangladesh and New Zealand Tests. On the other hand, Rahul has often been caught in two minds and has averaged a paltry 29.44 in Tests and ODIs combined in 2024.
RCB may also think twice about having both Kohli and Rahul in their top order at a time when batting in T20 cricket is turning into a six-hitting contest. While the duo are more than capable of unleashing big maximums, it still goes against their primary nature of playing a few balls and getting their eye in before exploding.
In that sense, Kohli anchoring the innings at the top with a dynamic middle-order duo of Rajat Patidar and Rishabh Pant makes for better reading at least on paper.
Conclusion
RCB would do well to land either KL Rahul or Rishabh Pant, considering both players offer plenty and solve many of the franchise's usual bugaboos. Yet, the pecking order between the two could hinge on what they value more - a proven commodity with them in Rahul or Pant's more recent overall dominance.
Either way, the rest of the RCB squad will ultimately determine who among Rahul and Pant fits better, making them a more dominant force heading into the 2025 IPL season.