It was a productive day's work for Royal Challengers Bangalore at the IPL 2019 auction as the side made some impressive purchases to emerge with a well-rounded squad. Apart from a pair of promising domestic all-rounders — a category of players the management had spoken of targeting — RCB also snapped up explosive West Indian batsman Shimron Hetmyer.
Mumbai all-rounder Shivam Dubey was the franchise's biggest buy at 5 crore. The 25-year-old has lit up the Ranji Trophy this season, scoring two hundreds and three fifties, and claiming 17 wickets with his medium pace. Dubey is also a powerful striker of the ball, and in Mumbai's last game, against Baroda, he clobbered five sixes in one over.
IPL Auction 2019 — AS IT HAPPENED
Fans should also warm quickly to Hetmyer, who was signed for 4.2 crore. The aggressive left-hander demonstrated his potential to Indian audiences with his display in the ODI series earlier this year, and was expected to be a huge attraction at the auction.
RCB needed back-up for wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel and South Africa's Heinrich Klaasen, also a big-hitting batsman, should fulfill that role. Uttar Pradesh's Ranji Trophy captain Akshdeep Nath, a middle-order batsman and part-time bowler, triggered a bidding war before being captured by RCB for 3.6 crore.
Also signed was 16-year-old leg-spinner Prayas Roy Barman, who took 11 wickets for Bengal in the Vijay Hazare Trophy earlier this year. RCB battled with KXIP for his services before eventually landing the youngster for a whopping 1.5 crore. Punjab all-rounder Gurkeerat Singh Mann will add depth to the batting, as will Sikkim's Milind Kumar, who has raced to 1000 runs this Ranji Trophy season, and Delhi's Himmat Singh.
READ | Mustafa Ghouse on Delhi Capitals' first IPL auction
Devdutt Padikkal, who was bought for 20 lakh, is the only Karnataka player in the squad. RCB did not sign any fast bowlers, as the side has enough quicks on its roster already. Death-bowling, though, could prove to be a concern yet again.
Comments
SHARE