Anil Kumble, former captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), was dissatisfied with the three-time finalists’ attitude during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 mini-auction in Dubai on Tuesday, December 19.
RCB acquired Cameron Green and Mayank Dagar via trade during the off-season from the Mumbai Indians (MI) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), respectively. In terms of releases, they opted to part ways with Wanindu Hasaranga, Josh Hazlewood, and Harshal Patel.
RCB ended up with international purchases of Alzarri Joseph, Lockie Ferguson, and Tom Curran at the auction. Yash Dayal was their largest Indian purchase, and they finished the auction with a pair of low-profile additions.
Anil Kumble spoke about Jio Cinema:
“I think I agree with this in terms of the rating, I don’t think they go beyond seven, because when you look at an auction, you’re looking to better what you have done in the past or released. The three bowlers they released, if you look at Hasaranga, Hazlewood and Harshal Patel, have you picked players better than them?”
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble continued:
“They still require a spinner. They don’t have a spinner. Even at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, it’s the wicket-taking spinners who always perform better. So they don’t have that. They’ll have to lean back on Karn Sharma, who hardly played last season. He was the impact bowler for them, but didn’t play all the matches. So it’s a huge ask and then they’ve made a trade as well. So it’s not easy without a spinner. I don’t think they got it quite right.”
Anil Kumble
RCB had discharged a total of 11 players prior to the mini-auction, including the aforementioned bowling trio. They took the audacious move to outbid the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for Pat Cummins, bidding up to 20.25 crore before getting outbid.
RCB’s weak bowling unit a cause for concern
Over the years, the team has developed a bad reputation for having an unbalanced batting and bowling attack, and this has materialized once more in front of the 2024 season. Big stars like Glenn Maxwell, Faf du Plessis, and Virat Kohli front their batting unit, but the same cannot be said of their bowling attack.
Bowlers find it difficult to bowl at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in general, and a weak bowling attack may struggle to limit batsmen at the stadium throughout the season. In the last phases of the auction, the franchise made a desperate bid for Nuwan Thusara, but was defeated by the Mumbai Indians (MI).
At the end of the auction, RCB supporters cut a disgruntled figure, blasting the organization for going overboard on Alzarri Joseph and targeting the wrong players in general.