"We felt like we needed to improve at home": RCB skipper Du Plessis

As RCB executed well-thought-out six bids to shape a strong squad for the upcoming season, skipper Faf du Plessis highlighted that it was a busy time for him and the think tank as they invested a lot of time in developing a comprehensive plan which helped to enter the auction with much more clarity. He said the team's focus was to pick the players who will perform well at home.

With a strong nucleus already present in the top order with players like Du Plessis, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Rajat Patidar, and having acquired services of all-rounder Cameron Green, who adds excellent depth to the batting, RCB's focussed approach in the auction saw them securing more strength in the bowling department.

West Indian aggressive paceman Alzarri Joseph (Rs11.50 Cr) became the first buy for RCB at the auction. The 27-year-old holds the record for the best-ever bowling figures in the IPL of 6-12 and can be a quality option in death overs. They further added more speed into their attack by picking up New Zealand's fast bowler Lockie Ferguson (Rs2 Cr) and England's Tom Curran (Rs1.50 Cr).

RCB also added Indian left-arm pacer Yash Dayal (Rs5 Cr) and spin all-rounder Swapnil Singh (Rs20 lacs) to ensure variation in the bowling attack. They bought talented young wicketkeeper Saurav Chauhan (Rs20 lacs) from Gujarat to complete a 25-member squad. Chauhan made the headlines in the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy when he smashed 18-ball 61.

"RCB is committed to playing a fearless brand of cricket which ranks us among the top global franchises. With the expertise of Mo Bobat and Andy Flower, we aim to foster a bold and dynamic performance culture in the team. The strategic purchases at the auction reflect their meticulous planning and approach. With the strong batting line-up already present, we have now balanced our team with addition of all-rounders and great bowling options to add fire to the pace unit. Overall, we've successfully built a formidable team poised to bring glory in the upcoming season," Chairman of RCB Prathmesh Mishra said while talking about the auction and the selection of players as quoted in a release from the Bangalore-based franchise.

"After the last season, we felt like we needed to improve at home. One of the things that we did really well was to succeed away from Chinnaswamy. So, we went away and put our heads together and what that looks like to be better at home and how can we get better, in what ways can we improve? It's definitely the auction and the process of the last two months has been solely around planning to be better at home and the type of bowlers and batsmen that will be successful at home," commented Du Plessis.

"We spent a lot of time talking about RCB and where we wanted to take the franchise. I think it's always really important that you do your homework and make sure you look at every area and talk it through. And I feel like our relation, the three of us [head coach Andy Flower and Director of Cricket Mo Bobat], obviously with the help of a lot of the team, Freddie [Wilde] the analyst and [Adam] Griffith the bowling coach, Malolan Rangarajan, (Head of Scouting) and even Rajesh V Menon (VP and Head of RCB), I feel like we are very well-connected leadership group," he added.

Head coach Flower is confident about the bowling attack and hopes they play an important role and also said they have a dangerous batting line-up.

"It's really a strong top four with Virat [Kohli] and Faf [du Plessis], [Rajat] Patidar and [Glenn] Maxwell. Cameron Green who gives us that power somewhere in that top five. We haven't decided exactly where he's going to bat yet, but he gives us that power option somewhere in the top five that is going to be very dangerous. Mohammed Siraj will lead the attack and him being fit and firing is going to be very important. We've got some skilful young Indian bowlers there who are going to be growing with us through the season and hopefully playing a really important part for us," the head coach commented.

RCB Full Squad for IPL 2024:

Retained Players: Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar (from SRH), Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green (from MI).

New Buys: Alzarri Joseph (Rs11.50 crore), Yash Dayal (Rs5 crore), Tom Curran (Rs1.5 crore), Lockie Ferguson (Rs2 crore), Swapnil Singh (Rs20 lakh), Saurav Chauhan (Rs20 lakh). (ANI)