In the IPL 2019 auction, Royal Challengers Bangalore led by Virat Kohli choose to go for young talent like Shivam Dube and Shimron Hetymer. Earlier, RCB released stalwarts like Brendon McCullum, Corey Anderson, Chris Woakes, and traded Mandeep Singh to Kings Xi Punjab (KXIP) for Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis.
RCB had an awful IPL 2018, finishing sixth despite having Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers at the top of the order. The main reason for RCB’s woeful performance last year was their lack of fire power in the middle order, which they have tried fill in IPL 2019 players auction. RCB grabbed Mumbai’s Shivam Dube for a staggering Rs 50 million (Rs 5 cr) after he hit 5 sixes in an over, a day ahead of the auction in a Ranji trophy match. West Indian Shimron Hetmyer, who showcased big hitting during ODI series against India, was bought for Rs 42 million (Rs 4.2 cr).
Here is the RCB squad for IPL 2019:
Retained players: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Moeen Ali, Colin de Grandhomme, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Nathan Coulter-Nile
Players bought in IPL 2019 auction: Shivam Dube (Rs 50 million), Shimron Hetmyer (Rs 42 million), Akshdeep Nath (Rs 36 million), Prayas Barman (Rs 15 million), Himmat Singh (Rs 6.5 million), Gurkeerat Singh Mann (Rs 5 million), Heinrich Klaasen (Rs 5 million), Devdutt Padikkal (Rs 2 million), Milind Kumar (Rs 2 million)
Released players: Quinton de Kock, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Sarfaraz Khan, Brendon McCullum, Corey Anderson