Virat Kohli has never hidden his deep love for Royal Challengers Bangalore. The ageing superstar of Indian cricket has on many occasions called the club and the Chinnaswamy Stadium his second home. He’s even categorically stated he can’t envision donning the jersey of another IPL franchise.So it was not at all surprising to see RCB retain their biggest box office attraction for a whopping Rs 21 crore, the most expensive amongst retained Indian players and joint second most overall (Nicholas Pooran, Lucknow Super Giants) behind Heinrich Klaasen (Rs 23 crore, Sunrisers Hyderabad).With an eye on the future, the Royal Challengers, who are yet to win an IPL title despite coming close on three occasions where they finished runners-up (2009, 2011, and 2016), retained talented Madhya Pradesh batter Rajat Patidar for Rs 11 crore.What was surprising though was RCB opting to keep the services of uncapped left-arm pacer Yash Dayal (Rs 5 crore) ahead of the more accomplished and one of India’s all-format bowlers Mohammed Siraj.Along with Siraj, the 26-year-old Dayal was one of the standout bowlers for RCB last season, bagging 15 wickets in 14 games. Although he was expensive for the season (9.14), he drew widespread praise for bowling a superb final over in their final league game that propelled RCB into the play-offs.
Virat Kohli has never hidden his deep love for Royal Challengers Bangalore. The ageing superstar of Indian cricket has on many occasions called the club and the Chinnaswamy Stadium his second home. He’s even categorically stated he can’t envision donning the jersey of another IPL franchise.So it was not at all surprising to see RCB retain their biggest box office attraction for a whopping Rs 21 crore, the most expensive amongst retained Indian players and joint second most overall (Nicholas Pooran, Lucknow Super Giants) behind Heinrich Klaasen (Rs 23 crore, Sunrisers Hyderabad).With an eye on the future, the Royal Challengers, who are yet to win an IPL title despite coming close on three occasions where they finished runners-up (2009, 2011, and 2016), retained talented Madhya Pradesh batter Rajat Patidar for Rs 11 crore.What was surprising though was RCB opting to keep the services of uncapped left-arm pacer Yash Dayal (Rs 5 crore) ahead of the more accomplished and one of India’s all-format bowlers Mohammed Siraj.Along with Siraj, the 26-year-old Dayal was one of the standout bowlers for RCB last season, bagging 15 wickets in 14 games. Although he was expensive for the season (9.14), he drew widespread praise for bowling a superb final over in their final league game that propelled RCB into the play-offs.
