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Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) former director of cricket Mike Hesson has revealed that the franchise wanted to buy back seasoned leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, but could not do so due to the position the bowler was in at the IPL 2022 mega auction. He also admitted Chahal was upset when he rang up the leggie to explain the situation, but added that he understood the bowler’s frustration.
In a rather shocking move, RCB decided against retaining Chahal ahead of the IPL 2022 auction despite his stellar performances for the franchise. He was subsequently purchased by the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the auction.
In an interview with Cricket.com, Hesson opened up about Chahal’s reaction after he was not picked up by the Bangalore franchise at the IPL 2022 auction.
“I remember ringing Yuzi afterwards and he was upset. It was very difficult to try and explain to him the auction dynamics at that time. He was visibly disinterested, and I don’t blame him. He was an RCBian and he was frustrated. But I can assure everyone that he is well-aware of the issues we were confronted with,” Hesson said.
The 49-year-old explained that Chahal was surprisingly not on the marquee players' list. He was placed in 'Set Six' and, by then, the franchise did not have enough money to go for the leggie.
“We only retained three players because we wanted to buy back both Harshal Patel and Yuzi at the auction. By only retaining three players, it gave us an extra four crore to do that. Probably the thing that I’m frustrated about even now is the fact that he couldn’t make the top two marquee lists despite being one of the best ever in the IPL. That was ridiculous," the Kiwi explained.
"The fact that he came in at No.65 in the auction list (sic) meant that it was really difficult for us to guarantee that we will get him. But yes, we spent hours and hours at the mock auction debating how we could potentially buy Yuzi,” he went on to add.
While RCB bought back Harshal Patel for ₹10.75 crore at the IPL 2022 auction, Rajasthan Royals purchased Chahal for ₹6.5 crore.
Yuzvendra Chahal’s performance for RCB
Chahal is the leading wicket-taker for the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise. He played 113 matches for RCB, claiming 139 wickets at an average of 22.03 and an economy rate of 7.58, with a best of 4/25.
Overall, the leg-spinner has featured in 145 matches and has 187 wickets to his credit at an average of 21.69, with six four-fers and one five-wicket haul. He is, in fact, the leading wicket-taker in the history of the IPL, having surpassed Dwayne Bravo’s record of 183 scalps.
