RCB has never won the coveted IPL title and will look to end the title drought in the upcoming season. Last season RCB again disappointed their fans by finishing at sixth spot. RCB will be hoping for an improved show this time around as they head into the IPL 2019 auctions with a lot of slots to fill in.
The franchise opted to retain their core ahead of the auctions with captain Kohli getting retained along with the likes of AB de Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal and Tim Southee. Nathan Coulter-Nile missed out last season but was retained by the franchise.
RCB decided to trade Indian batsman Mandeep Singh for Kings XI Punjab’s Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis ahead of the auctions. Quinton de Kock, Brendon McCullum, Sarfraz Khan, Chris Woakes and Corey Anderson were the players released by RCB ahead of the IPL 2019 auctions.
RCB made full use of the available purse of Rs 18.5 crore and bought some good players in the form of West Indies explosive batsman Shimron Hetmyer and uncapped all-rounder Shivam Dube, both of whom were predicted to bag big amounts in the auction.
Players bought: Shimron Hetmyer, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Devdutt Padikkal, Shivam Dube, Heinrich Klaasen, Himmat Singh, Milind Kumar, Prayas Barman, Akshdeep Nath
Retained players: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Colin de Grandhomme,
Released players: Quinton de Kock, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Sarfraz Khan, Brendon McCullum, Corey Anderson
More to follow…