RCB's auction strategy revealed, Jason Holder in franchise's radar

As the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega-auction inches closer, the excitement of the fans knows no bounds. With various top names available on the auction platter, it is not going to be an easy day out for the franchises.


Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is reported to go hard to acquire the services of the Caribbean all-rounder Jason Holder. The West Indian boasts of quality skills in all the departments and his valuable T20 skillset is likely to fetch him a lucrative contract in the upcoming auction.


"Ben Stokes isn't available, Hardik Pandya and Marcus Stoinis are taken. Mitchell Marsh you never know whether he can survive a full IPL with his injury-prone career, Holder has been phenomenal if one looks at his record. RCB will like to go the distance as some others will also pitch in," a source close to RCB said as quoted to PTI.


Holder's leadership skills add to his resume with RCB currently looking at a potent captaincy mind. But the franchise must be ready for an alternative as Holder will certainly not be an easy grab.


While Glenn Maxwell is in their ranks, RCB is still in a search of quality domestic middle-order batters. It has been understood that the team will bid handsomely for Ambati Rayudu and Riyan Parag.


"For Holder, they have reserved Rs 12 crore and another Rs 8 crore for Rayudu and Rs 7 crore for Parag. If they spend Rs 27 crore approximately on these players, they would have another Rs 28 crore left," the source added.


"The core with Kohli, Maxwell, Siraj, Holder, Rayudu and Parag will be set. Let's hope they can get two out of the preferred three," affirmed the source.


Rayudu has performed prolifically for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the side's success, since their comeback in 2018, has largely been credited to the 36-year-old batter. 


Talking about Parag, his handful of innings indicated that he is set for the big stage. But the youngster lost the plot after his debut IPL season. However, a franchise like RCB can bring the best out of him.


RCB has retained Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj for IPL 2022 and currently have Rs. 57 crore left in their auction purse.

Discover more
Top Stories
news

BPL 2022 | Fortune Barishal stay at top after dominating victory against Comilla Victorians

Fortune Barishal breezed past Comilla Victorians on Monday, 7 February by defeating them by a big margin of 32 runs in the Bangladesh Premier League. The performance was once again led by Barishal captain Shakib Al Hasan who scored a half century with the bat and then returned to pick up two crucial wickets while defending 156 runs. Comilla’s chase never really took off as they lost wickets in regular intervals. Walking the talk, Shakib al Hasan dismissed both openers in the Comilla line-up, a jolt from which they never recovered. Hasan alongside their other two spinner - Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Nayeem Hasan and Najmul Shanto wreaked havoc on the batting line-up. Wild swings from the batters did not help on a wicket that was sticky in nature and needed batsmen to stay for a while before launching their attack. The discipline from the Barishal bowlers deserves a shoutout with this team bowling impeccable lines to entice the batsmen. Earlier in the innings, Barishal received a good early momentum from opener Munim Shahriar, who took the attack to the likes of Mustafizur Rahman and spinner Nahidul Islam. While the likes of Chris Gayle and Shanto did not add much, Shahriar single handedly kept the score rate up in the powerplay overs. After his departure in the 8th over Shakib and Towhid Hridoy took over and built an exceptional partnership of 67 runs to get Barishal to stability. Out of the partnership, Shakib scored 37 off 28 balls and reached his individual 50 while Hridoy played the anchor's role in the partnership scoring 28 off 29 balls. They took Barishal to an exceptional score of 155 runs, which looked difficult to achieve on a wicket that offered quite a bit of grip and turn. After the win, Shakib Al Hasan was adjudged the man of the match stated that he is very happy with the way they have bowled and if they can manage a couple of more boundaries in their batting, they would be very confident about winning the tournament.