When the Royal Challengers Bangalore step out to play in IPL 2024, they might have to deal with major drawbacks in their bowling attack thinks former Indian cricketer turned Pundit Aakash Chopra. In a recent YouTube video uploaded on his channel, Chopra claimed that RCB’s bowling department could be their weakest link and it might as well keep them away from securing a playoff berth.
The South Indian outfit spent over 15 crores on bowling reinforcements after releasing the likes of Josh Hazlewood, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Harshal Patel before the 2024 IPL auction. However, the bowlers they purchased during the mini-auction are not up to the mark and they might have also paid much more than they should have on those additions.
While Bangalore’s batting unit remains their key strength, the major concern for them is the lack of impactful spinners. To be precise, RCB spent 20.40 Crores in buying the likes of Alzarri Joseph (11.50 Crores), Yash Dayal (5 Crores), Tom Curran (1.5 Crores), Lockie Ferguson (2 Crores), Swapnil Singh and Saurav Chauhan for 20 Lakhs each which Aakash Chopra thinks is not justified.
Most of the bowlers they bought are not as good as the price in which they were acquired except for Lockie Ferguson who arrived at his base price. The Kiwi pacer is the only one to have a decent IPL record otherwise most of them either hold a mediocre record or are yet to prove themselves.
Starting from Alzarri Joseph who was bought for nearly 12 crores only has 20 wickets in 19 IPL matches. Yash Dayal who went for 5 crores has an experience of playing only 14 matches across the last 2 seasons, picking up 13 wickets with an overall economy rate of over 10. Last year, he was dropped entirely from the Gujarat Titans after Rinku Singh smacked 5 sixes in a row which led to Gujarat losing against KKR from a winning situation.
Tom Curran doesn’t have a good record either, picking 13 wickets in 13 matches. Amongst them, Lockie Ferguson is the only one to have a decent record of 38 wickets in 37 wickets and has experience of winning an IPL title as well. Swapnil Singh and Saurav Chauhan are the only 2 spinners that were bought in the auction but are they as good as Hasaranga or Chahal for that matter? The answer is no.
“Bowling Might Still Be A Little 50-50 And Spin Looks Quite Ordinary”, Aakash Chopra Questions RCB’s Auction Strategy
Aakash Chopra spoke bluntly about the decision-making of RCB’s think tank and claimed that there is more than one loophole in their bowling line-up.
“They can do it this year (qualify for play-offs) if the openers do well again and Cameron Green’s bat fires. So things can actually work out but bowling might still be a little 50-50 and spin looks quite ordinary.” – said Aakash Chopra.
The 46-year-old openly questioned the purchase of Alzarri Joseph and said that it wasn’t the right decision according to his science and math.
“You needed Alzarri Joseph and that too for more than 11 crores. No disrespect, I am taking nothing away from Alzarri Joseph but 11 crores, it wasn’t right according to my math and science.” – Chopra added.
Lastly, Aakash Chopra also said that RCB did overspend on Yash Dayal who played just 5 matches last year, and stated that they could have instead gone for Shardul Thakur or Umesh Yadav, 2 names that are proven names in the IPL.
“Lockie is a great buy. Then they bought Yash Dayal by spending a huge amount. Umesh Yadav, who has played here earlier, was also an option. Shardul Thakur was also an option, he went for four crores, but they spent a lot of money to acquire Yash.” – Aakash Chopra concluded.