‘They didn't ask me whether I wanted to be retained or not’: Chahal on RCB

Former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has revealed that he neither received any retention offer from the RCB top-brass nor demanded a pay hike.

Earlier in January, the Challengers turned heads when they decided not to retain their premium leg-spinner ahead of the mega-auction.

RCB retained former skipper Virat Kohli, Australian basher Glenn Maxwell and pacer Mohammed Siraj. However, talks were doing the rounds that the management did not retain Chahal because the leggie had demanded more money. 

In an exclusive interview with TOI, Chahal revealed that he never received an offer of retention from the management.

The 30-year-old revealed that he was intimated about the players that the franchise had decided to retain by the director of cricket Mike Hessson before the names were made public.

He added that Hesson had assured him that RCB would try to regain his services during the mega-auction.

"I am emotionally attached to RCB. I never thought I would play for some other team. People and fans on social media are still asking me, 'why did you ask for this much money?'. The reality is that Mike Hesson (RCB Director of Cricket) called me and said, 'Listen Yuzi, there are three retentions' (Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj)," said Chahal.

"They didn't ask me whether I wanted to be retained or tell me if they wanted to retain me. They just talked about the three retentions, and I was told that – 'we will go for you in the auction'. Neither was I asked about money nor did I get any offer of retention. But I will always be loyal to my Bangalore fans. I love them so much, no matter what." he added.

As it turned out, Chahal started a bidding war during the auction and was ultimately racked by the Rajasthan Royals (RR) for a sum of INR 6.5 Crore.

Interestingly, RCB didn't even bid for him during the auction, even as the likes of Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and RR went all out to claim his services.

For Chahal, the jersey may have changed, but his determination to perform hasn't. And he is looking forward to contributing the same for Rajasthan as he did for the Bangalore franchise.

Chahal will make his debut for the Royals when the inaugural champions lock horns with the SRH on March 29 at MCA Stadium in Pune.