In the much-awaited Indian Premier League auction held over the weekend, Royal Challengers Bangalore steered clear of Karnataka players, choosing to pick foreign names instead.
The Bengaluru-based franchise chose not to use the ‘right to match’ card on retaining India opener KL Rahul and also failed to sign Manish Pandey, Mayank Agarwal, Stuart Binny and Karun Nair, who were all picked up by other franchises for hefty sums.
Former Indian batsman, who played for RCB in previous seasons of the IPL, Robin Uthappa was retained by Kolkata Knight Riders, while Rahul was signed by Kings XI Punjab along with Karun Nair. Sunrisers Hyderabad signed up Manish Pandey.
RCB previously had Sreenath Aravind, Stuart Binny and KL Rahul as part of its team in 2017, while Karnataka players like Uthappa, R Vinay Kumar, Abhinav Mithun have all played for the Bengaluru franchise in the past.
The high prices for Karnataka’s players played a big part in RCB’s decision to not bid for them. “It’s hard to let go of players who have done well for you in the past. We were keen on him (Rahul), but that’s the way things have turned out. You can’t control them,” RCB chairman Amrit Thomas said, speaking to The Hindu.
On Sunday, the trend continued with the franchise choosing not to bid for Karnataka Ranji captain R Vinay Kumar, who was picked up for his base price of Rs 1 crore by the Kolkata Knight Riders.
RCB signed the highly rated English all-rounder Chris Woakes for Rs 7.4 crore and New Zealand wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum for Rs 3.6 crore. The franchise added another Kiwi, Colin de Grandhomme, English all-rounder Moeen Ali and South African batsman Quinton de Kock. It also managed to re-sign spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, and added Umesh Yadav and Manan Vohra to the squad.
Meanwhile, Chris Gayle, a long-time RCB player and firm fan-favourite, went unsold in the auction but he could still be signed on Sunday.