IPL 2021 Auction: Three Players Royal Challengers Bangalore Should Target for Upcoming Season
Royal Challengers Bangalore have made some bold decisions ahead of the 2021 Indian Premier League auction in the quest to win their maiden trophy.
RCB released some of the big overseas players on Wednesday including Chris Morris and Aaron Finch. While the Bangalore based franchise continued to put their faith in skipper Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Yuzvendra Chahal after a trophy drought since the inception of the league.
RCB had a decent season in UAE last year, where they qualified for the play0ffs but unfortunately suffered a defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the eliminator.
With big names like Kohli and De Villiers, RCB have always been under pressure to lift the IPL trophy. They have come close to achieve it thrice during 2009, 2011 and 2016 season where RCB ended up as runner-ups.
RCB will enter the IPL 2021 Auction with an INR 35.7 crore in their purse as they are expected to make some big buys for the upcoming season.
Here are the three players, RCB should target in the IPL 2021 auction to bolster their attack.
1. Steve Smith: After releasing Aaron Finch, RCB desperately need a batsman who can take some responsibility from Kohli and De Villiers’ shoulders. Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals made a bold move by releasing Steve Smith who was their skipper in the last two seasons. Smith’s abilities in T20 format has always been under scanners but the premier Australia batsman can be a solution to RCB’s woes.
2. Glenn Maxwell: RCB have been missing a prolific finisher from the past couple of seasons. The pressure of finishing the innings has been put on De Villiers shoulders alone. Maxwell faced a lot of scrutiny for his poor show in IPL 2020 as he failed to live up to his hefty price tag and scored just 108 runs in 13 matches. However, Maxwell has made a big name of himself and with Kohli and ABD already in their rank, he might play his game freely at RCB.
3. Chris Morris: RCB made a surprising move to release Chris Morris ahead of the 2021 Auction. The Proteas pacer led the RCB pace attack in IPL 2020 and impressed everyone with his performances as he claimed 11 wickets in 9 matches. Though he missed several matches due to injury concerns. Many have still raised questions over Morris exclusion from the RCB team but it is referred to as a tactical move by many as he was bought for massive Rs 10 crore last year. RCB might go the Proteas pacer again to acquire his services for a lesser amount this time.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Retained Players: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Md. Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Joshua Phillipe, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahmed, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson