RCB will have to fill 22 slots at the auction in Jeddah after deciding to retain just 3 players.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have got all of their bases covered. The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction has been a success. You haven’t really heard this, have you? Well, that’s because it hasn’t happened yet. RCB have never really been able to assemble a team that could win an IPL trophy.
The issue has always been their bowling, with stalwarts like Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, and Virat Kohli there to keep their batting afloat for almost a decade. But, finally, they’ve done it. At least at Ravichandran Ashwin’s mock IPL auction.
RCB’s ‘top’ top-order
RCB replaced their captain from last season, Faf du Plessis, with David Warner. With 6565 runs, the southpaw from Australia is the fourth-highest scorer in IPL history, and no one has scored more half-centuries than him. Kohli and Rajat Patidar retained their places in the top four while they got Will Jacks using a Right to Match (RTM) card. The backup top-order players will be Venkatesh Iyer and Rachin Ravindra, for whom they paid Rs 18.50 crore combined.
Finishers, all-rounders & keepers
The middle/lower middle-order will have Jitesh Sharma, Ashutosh Sharma, Anuj Rawat, Kamindu Mendis, and Lalit Yadav. The good thing here is that each of the five has one additional skill other than batting. Therefore, they have two wicketkeepers, a one-part spinner, and two all-rounders. Jitesh, Ashutosh, and Anuj can all play the role of finisher, while Kamindu can slot in at 5 if need be.
Deepak Chahar, R Sai Kishore, and Shardul Thakur will be the bowling all-rounders. Chahar will surely take the new ball, while Shardul often gets the ball whenever the sides need an extra bowler. Kishore will be the middle-overs spinner.
1-2 spinners short?
Mukesh Kumar, Trent Boult, Yash Dayal, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Jason Behrendroff, and Mayank Dagar will be the out-and-out bowlers. They have a few good options here. Boult and Behrendroff have gotten the powerplay covered. Naturally, as left-arm swing bowlers, only one of them will play. Dayal too can bowl in the powerplay, but he possesses the versatility to bowl at any period.
Vyshak will bowl in the middle overs, and Dagar can join Kishore as the second spinner. Mukesh has shown how reliable he is in the death over and can be trusted there alongside Dayal. Ideally, a leg or mystery spinner would be good to have, but RCB instead have a couple of finger spinners and a few part-timers.
RCB retention list for IPL 2025
Retention No. 1 (Rs 21 crore) – Virat Kohli
Retention No. 2 (Rs 11 crore) – Rajat Patidar
Retention No. 3 (Rs 5 crore) – Yash Dayal
Purse left – Rs 83 crore
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