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'We have three great leaders now': Mike Hesson on new captain after RCB rope in 37-year-old veteran
Before the two-day mega auction, RCB had retained three players - their former skipper Virat Kohli, all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and pacer Mohammed Siraj.
Royal Challengers Bangalored (RCB) entered the IPL 2022 Auction with the added responsibility of picking a captain. Former skipper Virat Kohli's exit from the role had left the Bangalore-based outfit with just Glenn Maxwell in the leadership mix. But the franchise snapped up Faf du Plessis for ₹7 crore, which can be linked with the team's need for an experienced player who has also shown his captaincy prowess.
Du Plessis sparked a bidding war between Royal Challengers Bangalore, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Delhi Capitals (DC). But Bangalore were resolute in their pursuit, which eventually led to the Proteas player's arrival to their camp. The team may have got two influential names (Du Plessis and Maxwell) who can don the skipper's hat in the upcoming edition but Mike Hesson, Director of Cricket Operations at RCB, feels the think tank will take a call after the auction.
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Hesson expressed his delight over Du Plessis' arrival and also underlined Josh Hazlewood's presence in the bowling attack. Apart from du Plessis, RCB also acquired the services of Hazlewood ( ₹7.75 crore) and Dinesh Karthik ( ₹5.5 crore).
"We have not had that discussion yet. We have three great leaders now in the form of Maxwell, Virat, and Faf du Plessis. We are really happy with those three leaders, we also have Josh Hazlewood as a leader from a bowling point of view. So we are happy with the group, we will make a decision regarding captaincy after the auction," said Hesson during a virtual press conference on Saturday.
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The first day of the mega auction saw intense bidding wars and teams shelling out big money on Indian talent. Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Chahar struck it rich on the first day of the event. Ishan was picked by Mumbai Indians for ₹15.25 crore while Chahar was sold to Chennai Super Kings for ₹14 crore.
Kolkata Knight Riders bought Iyer for ₹12.25 crore and Avesh Khan later became the most expensive pick among the uncapped players, with Lucknow Super Giants splurging ₹10 crore on him.
Talking about RCB's activity, they were perhaps among the busiest franchises. They also bought back some old faces - IPL 2021 Purple Cap winner Harshal Patel, who had picked a record 32 wickets, and Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga, for a similar price of INR 10.75 crore.
Following Yuzvendra Chahal's departure to Rajasthan Royals, Bangalore decided to stick with uncapped Indian Shahbaz Ahmed for INR 2.4 crore. In the final session, the franchise roped in a former RCB player in Akash Deep for his base price of INR 20 lakh.
Before the two-day mega auction, RCB had retained three players - their former skipper Kohli, all-rounder Maxwell and pacer Mohammed Siraj.
