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Newly-appointed Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) head coach Andy Flower said that the team can set and chase down big totals with their power-packed batting line-up, also expressing his thoughts about uncapped Indian pacer Yash Dayal's potential.
West Indian aggressive paceman Alzarri Joseph (Rs 11.50 Cr) became the first buy for RCB at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction held in Dubai on Tuesday. 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 to their attack by picking up New Zealand's fast bowler Lockie Ferguson (Rs 2 Cr) and England's bowling all-rounder Tom Curran (Rs 1.50 Cr). RCB also added Indian left-arm pacer Yash (Rs 5 Cr) and spin all-rounder Swapnil Singh (Rs 20 lacs) to ensure variation in the bowling attack. They bought talented young wicketkeeper Saurav Chauhan (Rs 20 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. Talking to JioCinema, Flower said, "With the recruitment of Cameron Green, we certainly wanted to get some power into the middle order. So, if we have got (Glenn) Maxwell and Green at four and five, it gives us that power. We have got DK (Dinesh Karthik) at number six and obviously the class of Faf (Du Plessis), Virat (Kohli) and (Rajat) Patidar upfront. We think that is a really great top six. We should be able to set big totals and chase down big totals." On Yash's potential, Flower said that though the bowler faced a hard time bowling in death overs during the last season, his potential for swing with the new ball and wicket-taking was seen. "As far as Yash Dayal is concerned, we saw some of his potential last year, certainly with the new ball for swing and wicket-taking potential. I know he had a hard time at the death occasionally, but we believe he has got high potential and we are looking for great things from him," said the coach. On getting Caribbean pacer Alzarri at a high price, Flower said that the team is happy to have him and he along with Flower and Du Plessis have worked in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) for Saint Lucia Kings. "It was great getting Cameron Green during the trade before the auctions. We had a go at Pat Cummins but were outbid in the end. We went for Alzarri and are really happy to have him. He is a quality operator. Faf (du Plessis) and I have worked with him before at Saint Lucia Kings and I think Faf's worked with him in the SA20 as well," said Flower. 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)
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