The Royal Challengers Bengaluru have been making blunders since 2008. They released KL Rahul in 2016, picked up Kyle Jamieson for Rs 15 crore in 2021, and recently paid Rs 17.5 crore for Cameron Green. But none of these come close to them releasing Yuzendra Chahal ahead of the IPL 2022 season.
They didn’t just release their highest wicket-taker, but they didn’t even bid on the greatest IPL spinner of all time, despite promising him that he’d find a place in the side once again. Having represented RCB from 2014 to 2021, Yuzvendra Chahal expressed that he was hurt by his treatment.
Now, two years after the ordeal, RCB’s former Director of Cricket, Mike Hesson, has revealed why Chahal didn’t find a place at the franchise. The former New Zealand head coach labeled the decision one of the biggest regrets of his career.
RCB leaving Yuzvendra Chahal—the biggest blunder in IPL history?
Talking with Robin Uthappa on Jio Cinema, he revealed that their plan was to release him and get enough cash to buy him and Harshal Patel at the IPL 2022 auction. But due to him coming on later in the auction and them already picking up Wanindu Hasaranga, they didn’t bid for him.
“Yuzi (Yuzvendra Chahal) is one I will be frustrated with until I have finished my career and probably beyond. He is an outstanding bowler. I guess when it comes to every cycle, you have got to decide who you are going to retain. It was one of those things where, if you only retain three players, you give yourself an extra 4 crore in the auction. That potentially gave us the chance to get both Harshal (Patel) and Yuzi.”
“Then the order of the auction came up, and Yuzvendra Chahal was at no. 65. Because we had retained that many players, we were going to get bullied. After Yuzi, there was no other spinner we were interested in. We were interested in Hasaranga as another option if we did not get Yuzi. So we bid for him upfront, and then once we got Hasaranga, that meant we could not go for Yuzi,” he added.
