IPL Auction 2021: 3 overseas cricketers RCB should target for supporting Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) decision to release 9 players (Parthiv Patel had announced his retirement before the retention) despite having a pretty good last season was one of the major talking points when all eight franchises made the final list public. It is supposed to gather steam again when the RCB team management sits at the auction table to find suitable replacements for the players they released in the IPL 2021 auction on Thursday in Chennai.

RCB, who are yet to win the IPL, showed a glimpse of what they can do last year by making it to the play-offs. This time around, they would like to go two steps and further and lift the trophy for the first time. In order to do that, they need to ease the burden on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.

RCB retained players: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Josh Philippe, Shahbaz Ahmed and Pavan Deshpande.

Trades: Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel from Delhi Capitals

Salary cap remaining: ₹35.40 crores

Overall slots remaining: 11

Overseas slots remaining: 3

Areas to target

• Middle-order power-hitter

• Indian wicketkeeper

• Top-order overseas batsman

• Spin-bowling allrounder

Here are three cricketers foreigners RCB Could target

Glenn Maxwell: Released by Kings XI Punjab after having a below-par season last year, Maxwell can be the ideal foil to de Villiers and Kohli. The pitch at the Chinnaswamy Stadium will also suit Maxwell’s big-hitting and not forget his utility as an off-spinner. Maxwell’s base price is at INR 2 crore but expect that to go up several notches like every year.

Shakib Al Hasan: The Bangladesh legend should be the next in line for RCB. If not Maxwell then Shakib can do the job of a power hitter in the middle order and also help out Yuzvendra Chahal with his quality left-arm spin. Shakib’s base price if also at INR 2 crore.

Moises Henriques: Considering RCB don’t use the Right to Match card for South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris then Australia’s Moises Henriques can be the right bet for them. RCB have been struggling with seam-bowling all-rounders. Their faith on Shivam Dube rat out this season after the young Mumbai all-rounder failed to delivery substantial performances in two successive seasons. This is where Henriques, who has been in very good form in the BBL, can be a good pick. His modest base price of INR 75 lakh also makes him a utility buy.