Starc, Coetzee Or Cummins? Aakash Chopra Expects RCB To Break The Bank For One
Mitchell Starc has previously played for RCB (Twitter)
Aakash Chopra is expecting Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to break the bank at the IPL 2024 mini-auction in Dubai on Tuesday (December 19) for their next spearhead after shockingly releasing Australian quick Josh Hazlewood before the bidding war.
It could be that the franchise is eyeing a rationalising of prize with Hazlewood when he returns to the auction in the Middle East. However, the former India batter reckons RCB could go wholeheartedly after one of three other elite seamers available for grabs: Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Gerald Coetzee.
While all three seamers add great depth and wicket-taking prowess to their teams, RCB perhaps have the budget to enter an intense tussle for only one of them.
The Australian duo of Cummins and Starc, who are making a return to the IPL, and the South African seamer Coetzee are all expected to fetch huge sums after registering at a base sum of INR 2 crores.
RCB Could Eye One Of Cummins, Starc And Coetzee
The Bangalore-based franchise is left with a remaining purse of INR 23.25 crores with six slots vacant in their contingent, including three overseas players. The franchise had a significantly higher sum available to them before undergoing a famous trade with Mumbai Indians (MI) for the services of rising young Aussie allrounder Cameron Green.
"Which bowlers will they go towards? Because they have money, I feel they will break the bank. They need one big bowler. The three options available are Mitchell Starc, Gerald Coetzee and Pat Cummins," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
"They will go all out for one of those three. Three teams will go absolutely all-out. One is Chennai (CSK), the second is KKR and the third is RCB."
"So you can find those three fast bowlers between these three teams. Any of those three could land in the Bangalore team but it will come at a huge cost," he added.
The mini-auction for the 2024 edition of the IPL will be held in Dubai and starts at 1:00 PM IST.
 "Kashish Chadha")
