Over the years, Royal Challengers Bangalore have boasted a strong batting line-up, but having released 10 players – the most by a franchise – ahead of the IPL 2021 auction, the 2009 and 2016 finalists have some gaps to fill. Aaron Finch, Chris Morris, Isuru Udana, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Shivam Dube, Dale Steyn, Parthiv Patel and Umesh Yadav were the players who were let go, and with a purse of ₹35.5 crore, RCB have the task of acquiring some utility buys when the auction takes place Thursday in Chennai.
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Former India batsman Gautam Gambhir feels the one thing RCB need the most right now is a good fast bowler. Calling Umesh's release a mistake, Gambhir reckons it will be interesting to see which department the franchise invests in the most on Thursday.
"See, one thing is very important. Having someone and having the same kind of season, like some of the players, who performed really well in 2019, 2020. Whether they will have the same kind of season in 2021, you will have to wait and watch. Plus, yes, they would need some quality players because they have let go of some quality players – Moeen Ali and Umesh Yadav for example," Gambhir said on the Cricket Connected Show – Auction Special on Star Sports.
"There are not many fast bowlers going around in the Indian circuit at the moment. You’ve got Navdeep Saini who is young, you’ve got someone like Mohammed Siraj, he can go hot and cold in T20 cricket, so probably releasing Umesh Yadav was the big surprise."
As far as RCB's batting is concerned, the previous season saw young Devdutt Padikkal rise to the occasion, scoring over 400-plus runs in his maiden IPL season. However, the middle order has mostly circled around the dynamic duo of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, and to ensure the pressure is not entirely on them, Gambhir wants RCB to target Glenn Maxwell, who was released by Punjab Kings (formerly Kings XI Punjab) ahead of the IPL auction. Maxwell, who had a pretty poor season, scoring 108 runs from 13 matches, has revealed he's keen to join RCB where he can play with his 'idol' de Villiers and under captain Kohli.
"Probably, they will look at someone like Glenn Maxwell because they need to take a lot of pressure out of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. Looking at the combination as well, Virat Kohli would look to open the batting, that’s what I think," Gambhir added.
"I’m not sure, that is up to the management and Virat Kohli himself, whether he wants to, but yes, he’s more suited to open the batting. And he will open with Devdutt Padikkal and then, you have AB de Villiers. You want someone like an X-factor, like Maxwell, and at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where it’s flat and small, so he can have that impact. So, probably, they will look at someone like Maxwell."