Royal Challengers Bengaluru spulrged big on Aussie pacer Josh Hazlewood, who rejoined them for ₹12.5 crores. Meanwhile, RCB also purchased England's Phil Salt and Liam LIvingstone for ₹11.5 and ₹8.75 crores respectively. RCB also got wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma for ₹11 crore.
Meanwhile, RCB also acquired Rasikh Dar ( ₹6 crores) and Suyash Sharma ( ₹2.6 crores). On Day 2, RCB went big for all-rounder Krunal Pandya, acquiring him for ₹5.75 crores. Then they battled it out in a mega-bidding war, getting Bhuvneshwar Kumar for ₹10.75 crores.
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RCB were criticised by Robin Uthappa and Eoin Morgan for their auction approach. Speaking on JioCinema, Uthappa said, "I'm a local boy, I am confused. You've not made more than one pick in the first two marquee sets. When you're trying to rebuild a side, when you're trying to figure out in which direction you're going to go, you have the fans backing you year in, year out. They put their emotions, their hearts on the line. They turn up then and to support the side. And then I'm certain when we go through the tweets that are coming through and you see that they feel so let down. And I as a fan of RCB and as a former player of RCB, I feel like they've missed the trick here."
"And you just wonder, where are they heading? And because they haven't gone after Mitchell Starc, which they should have, because you want a solid bowler there. They haven't gone after KL Rahul. And they haven't gone after either Rishabh Pant or Shreyas Iyer. And okay, Shreyas Iyer you do want. You want to go for Rishabh Pant who's a two-skilled player. You back them to the hill. You've got that purse. You can go to 23 crores for one of those players. They didn't even go that far. I'm just feeling bad for the fans because they've just backed this side so much. And I feel let down for them. The fans are actually saying that, Robbie, if you take a look at it," he added.
RCB's IPL Auction 2025 buys-
{{/usCountry}}"And you just wonder, where are they heading? And because they haven't gone after Mitchell Starc, which they should have, because you want a solid bowler there. They haven't gone after KL Rahul. And they haven't gone after either Rishabh Pant or Shreyas Iyer. And okay, Shreyas Iyer you do want. You want to go for Rishabh Pant who's a two-skilled player. You back them to the hill. You've got that purse. You can go to 23 crores for one of those players. They didn't even go that far. I'm just feeling bad for the fans because they've just backed this side so much. And I feel let down for them. The fans are actually saying that, Robbie, if you take a look at it," he added.
RCB's IPL Auction 2025 buys-
{{/usCountry}}Phil Salt (11.50 Cr)
Jitesh Sharma (11 Cr)
Liam Livingstone ( ₹8.75 Cr)
Josh Hazlewood ( ₹8.75 Cr)
Rasikh Dar (6 Cr)
Suyash Sharma (2.6 Cr)
Krunal Pandya (5.75 Cr)
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (10.75 Cr)
Swapnil Singh (50 L)
Tim David (3 Cr)
Nuwan Thushara (1.60 Cr)
Romario Shepherd - 1.50 Cr
Manoj Bhandage (30 L)
Jacob Bethell (2.60 Cr)
Devdutt Padikkal (2 Cr)
Lungi Ngidi (1 Cr)
Abhinandan Singh (30 L)
Mohit Rathi (30 L)
RCB's retentions-
Virat Kohli (21 Cr), Rajat Patidar (11 Cr), Yash Dayal (5 Cr)