IPL 2024 auction: Royal Challengers Bangalore focus mainly on pacers
What's the story
Royal Challengers Bangalore improved their pace attack during the 2024 Indian Premier League auction in Dubai.
RCB broke the banks for West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph, spending Rs. 11.50 crore.
Lockie Ferguson and Yash Dayal were also roped in for a department that needed work.
RCB had an underwhelming IPL 2023 season as they finished sixth on the points table.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Just like other teams, RCB held on to some of their core players whilst making some big decisions. They released big players including Josh Hazlewood and Wanindu Hasaranga.
RCB, who have been inconsistent in the tournament, will now need to see if they can go out all guns blazing.
It will be interesting to see if their reinforcements manage to elevate their performance.
Retained players
Major retained players by RCB ahead of the auction
Faf du Plessis, who hammered 730 runs last season for RCB will continue to lead the team while Virat Kohli, remains the fulcrum of the side.
RCB kept key figures like Mohammed Siraj, who scalped 19 wickets along with Glenn Maxwell, who hammered 400 runs last season.
Dinesh Karthik, Rajat Patidar, and Karn Sharma are among the others who had been retained by RCB.
Purse
RCB's remaining purse, trades, and retained players list
RCB released Shahbaz Ahmed and traded for Cameron Green and Mayank Dagar from MI and SRH respectively.
They had Rs. 23.25 crore in the bank.
Retained players: Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Vyshak Vijay Kumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar.
Signings
A look at their signings from the auction
RCB were busy during the auction as they went for many players but could only secure a few. Their main focus was on pace.
Signings from IPl 2024 auction: Alzarri Joseph (Rs. 11.50 crore), Yash Dayal (Rs. 5 crore), Tom Curran (Rs. 1.5 crore), Lockie Ferguson (Rs. 2 crore), Swapnil Singh (Rs. 20 lakh), and Saurav Chauhan (Rs. 20 lakh).
Squad
Here's RCB's complete squad for IPl 2024
RCB's squad for IPL 2024: Faf du Plessis (captain), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Cameron Green (traded in from MI) Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar (Traded in from SRH), Vyshak Vijaykumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, and Swapnil Singh.
Takeaways
Here are the key takeaways
RCB released Hazlewood, Willey, and Parnell and replaced them with pacers like Curran, Ferguson and Joseph.
Dayal has come in to fill the void left by Harshal. He will be tasked to bowl in the death overs.
Spin-bowling all-rounder Swapnil will also add variety to their roster. He has previously featured for LSG, MI and PBKS.
Uncapped Chauhan adds character on the bench.