Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma and Josh Hazlewood were the top three buys for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Day 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction on Sunday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The three-time finalists, who went into the auction room with the second-highest purse ( ₹83 crore), bought 19 players in two-day auction.
With Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar and Yash Dayal, already retained, RCB also roped in Liam Livingstone besides uncapped stars like Rasikh Dar and Suyash Sharma. However, the biggest question lies who will lead RCB?
In IPL 2024, RCB made the playoffs before being eliminated by Rajasthan Royals in the eliminator. Since the start, RCB have a tendency of putting up star-studded squads every year that included the likes of Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc and Dale Steyn to name a few, but without much success.
While Kohli will open the innings and Patidar anchoring the middle-order, RCB need power-hitters who would dominate the middle overs and at death. They still have three right-to-match cards available.
With Kohli highly unlikely to don the captain's hat again, RCB's primary focus would be to find a captain in the IPL 2025 mega auction after they let go Faf du Plessis.
Capped Players: Liam Livingstone ( ₹8.75 crore), Phil Salt ( ₹11.50 Crore), Jitesh Sharma ( ₹11 crore), Josh Hazlewood ( ₹12.50 crore), Krunal Pandya ( ₹5.75 crore), Bhuvneshwar Kumar ( ₹10.75 crore), Tim David ( ₹3 crore), Romario Shepherd ( ₹1.5 crore), Fazalhaq Farooqi ( ₹2 crore), Jacob Bethell ( ₹2.6 crore), Devdutt Padikkal ( ₹2 crore), Lungisani Ngidi ( ₹1 crore)
Uncapped players: Rasikh Dar ( ₹6 crore), Suyash Sharma ( ₹2.6 crore), Swapnil Singh ( ₹50 lakh), Nuwan Tushara ( ₹1.6 crore), Manoj Bhandage ( ₹30 lakh), Swastik Chikara ( ₹30 lakh), Abhinandan Singh ( ₹30 lakh), Mohit Rathee ( ₹30 lakh)
Virat Kohli ( ₹21 crore), Rajat Patidar ( ₹11 crore), Yash Dayal ( ₹5 crore)
RCB buy Krunal Pandya for ₹5.75 crore
RCB buy Bhuvneshwar Kumar for ₹10.75 crore
RCB buy Swapnil Singh for ₹50 lakh
RCB buy Tim David for ₹3 crore
RCB buy Romario Shepherd for ₹1.5 crore
RCB buy Nuwan Tushara for ₹1.6 crore
RCB buy Manoj Bhandage for ₹30 lakh
RCB buy Jacob Bethell for ₹2.6 crore
RCB buy Devdutt Padikkal for ₹2 crore
RCB buy Swastik Chikara for ₹30 lakh
