Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players'Knew he was going to be in demand': Katich explains why RCB decided to spend a 'bit of money' on Maxwell for IPL 2021
IPL 2021: Despite enduring a poor season last year, RCB spent more than ₹14.25 crore on Glenn Maxwell at the auction. Simon Katich explains why.
Even though Glenn Maxwell was one of the players released by Punjab Kings last year, a bidding war over him at the IPL 2021 auction was almost inevitable. After all, that's what Maxwell, The Big Show, brings to the table. Despite having a poor season, where he scored 108 runs from 13 matches, Maxwell was always going to be a big draw, and that's exactly how it panned out.
Kolkata Knight Riders began the bid for Maxwell, before being joined by Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. And once the bid reached ₹4.4 crore, it was up to RCB and CSK to battle it out over the services of the big-hitting Australia all-rounder. An intense bidding war ensued between the two southern franchises before RCB finally won it, purchasing Maxwell for a whopping ₹14.25 crore.
RCB's head coach Simon Katich revealed the planning the went behind acquiring Maxwell and why the franchise opted to go big for him despite poor returns the previous season.
"Maxwell... we knew that he was going to be in demand. He is a highly experienced player and been in very good form in T20I for Australia. He also had pretty good BBL. So, he is that multi-purpose player that we were looking for. For these two (Maxwell and Kyle Jamieson), we knew that we had to spend a bit of money and we ended up doing that," Katich said in a video uploaded by RCB.
RCB had a good season in IPL 2020, but a late stutter almost hampered their chances of making it to the Playoffs, and although the Virat Kohli-led team made it to the final four, Katich admits there are plenty of areas of the side to improve on.
"We had a good tournament (last year) but we know we got to get better to compete with the top two teams, that were Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals. I think we are pretty balanced. We are always looking for the best players for a certain role," Katich said.
