Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) entered the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 auction with six vacant overseas players’ slot to fill. Looking to rope in at least one quality foreign batsman and a bowler, the Bangalore based franchise had almost grabbed Australian pacer Pat Cummins, but Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) entered bidding at the Rs 14.75 crore level and scuttled their plans, bagging the Aussie for record Rs 15.75 crore.
This forced the RCB auction panel, led by head coach Mike Hesson, to look for another option, which they found in South African bowling all-rounder Chris Morris and bought him for Rs 10 crore.
RCB also bagged a top-order batsman in Australian limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch for Rs 4.4 crore to add to the firepower of Kohli and AB de Villiers. The Bangalore IPL team strengthened their bowling line-up with some late buys — Australia’s Kane Richardson for Rs 4.4 crore and South African Dale Steyn for Rs 2 crore. One of the under-rated picks of the IPL 2020 auction — Joshua Phillipe, who burst on to the cricketing scene with a blistering 44-ball 81 for Sydney Sixers in the ongoing Big Bash League — was also bought by RCB, at his base price of Rs 20 lakh.
Here are the key numbers for RCB after the IPL 2020 auction:Squad Strength: 21Overseas players: 8Players bought in auction: 8 (Aaron Finch, Chris Morris, Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana, Joshua Philippe, Kane Richardson, Pavan Deshpande and Shahbaz Ahmad)Purse remaining: Rs 6.4 croreFull list of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s IPL 2020 players’ list along with their salaries:
Player
Team
Retained/bought
Price (Rs cr)
Previous team
Virat Kohli
RCB
Retained
17.00
RCB
A B de Villiers
RCB
Retained
11.00
RCB
Chris Morris
RCB
Bought
10.00
KKR
Yuzvendra Chahal
RCB
Retained
6.00
RCB
Shivam Dube
RCB
Retained
5.00
RCB
Aaron Finch
RCB
Bought
4.40
SRH
Umesh Yadav
RCB
Retained
4.20
RCB
Kane Richardson
RCB
Bought
4.00
RCB
Washington Sundar
RCB
Retained
3.20
RCB
Navdeep Saini
RCB
Retained
3.00
RCB
Mohammed Siraj
RCB
Retained
2.60
DC
Dale Steyn
RCB
Bought
2.00
CSK
Moeen Ali
RCB
Retained
1.70
KKR
Parthiv Patel
RCB
Retained
1.70
RCB
Pawan Negi
RCB
Retained
1.00
RCB
Gurkeerat Mann Singh
RCB
Retained
0.50
CSK
Isuru Udana
RCB
Bought
0.50
KXIP
Devdutt Padikkal
RCB
Retained
0.20
SRH
Joshua Philippe
RCB
Bought
0.20
KXIP
Pavan Deshpande (uncapped)
RCB
Bought
0.20
RCB
Shahbaz Ahmad (uncapped)
RCB
Bought
0.20
None
Source: Business Standard
