Royal Challengers Bangalore is a team that is famous for releasing players who were just a season away from making it count. One of the major reasons that RCB stands without a trophy even after 12 seasons of IPL, is the blunders committed by the team management. RCB’s team management have not always taken the best decisions when it comes to player retention pre-auction.
A number of cases where RCB released the important players just because the team management couldn’t find an accurate position for the players in the lineup. And these are the same players who went on to make it big just after getting abandoned from the RCB.
Ex-RCB players become most destructive ones just after leaving the RCB’s ship. Social media is filled with memes in this regard. Few people have also gone on to say that a team should never miss an opportunity to buy an ex-RCB player.
The team that has benefitted the most from ex-RCB players, is that of KXIP. Lets take a look at 5 ex-RCB players who joined KXIP.
1. Chris Gayle
The first major blunder by the RCB’s team management was choosing not to retain the Universe Boss in 2018. Christopher Henry Gayle was one of the most senior players at the RCB camp. In IPL 2013, Gayle smashed the highest ever IPL score of 175* for RCB.
After an inconsistent 2017 IPL, the RCB abandoned Gayle and thus, Gayle was sent into the IPL auctions after eight years of aligning with the RCB. To add salt to his injury, Gayle went unsold in the auction initially but the KXIP drafted him into their side for 2018 IPL.
IPL 2018 saw the giant Gaylestorm once again. With the average of 40+, Chris Gayle went on to smash 350+ runs in just 11 innings in that IPL.
Gayle’s success casted another big doubt on RCB team management’s bizarre decisions.
2. KL Rahul
Another bizarre decision that shocked the RCB fans came when RCB team management decided to retain inexperinced Sarfaraz Khan over the young batting sensation KL Rahul.
Rahul was forced into the auctions before the 2018 IPL. KXIP was looking for a young top order batsman and the needs were met. Punjab drafted in Rahul for the 2018 IPL.
And he went on to become the second biggest regret for RCB’s team management. KL Rahul scored 659 runs in just 14 games at an astonishing Strike Rate of 160+ in the 2018’s IPL for KXIP.
3. Mayank Agarwal
Mayank Agarwal was another big player in making that RCB team management failed to predict and allowed him to sail away after 2011 IPL. 2018 was the year that the world saw the potential of Mayank. In 2018 IPL auctions, KXIP bought the right-hander to strengthen their batting lineup.
26th December, 2018 was the day when Mayank went on to represent India, after his consistent big performances at domestic level.
RCB must be itching to get him back, once they get an opportunity.
4. Mandeep Singh
RCB traded Mandeep Singh with Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis of KXIP ahead of 2019 IPL. Mandeep was a part of RCB for 4 consecutive years(2015-2018). The top-order batsman has also represented India in 2016, where he played 3 matches and scored 87 runs with an astonishing average of 43.5. He was retained by the KXIP for IPL 2020 as well.
His IPL journey so far has included 97 matches where he scored a total of 1529 runs at an outstanding strike rate of 124.7.
5. Sarfaraz Khan
The hard-hitter Sarfaraz Khan became the youngest to be picked up by a franchise in the 2015 IPL auctions by Royal Challengers Bangalore team management.
The young teenager that made headlines with his performance for the RCB, was released by the team after the 2018 edition of the league. Sarfaraz was yet another ex-RCB player to be bought by the KXIP management ahead of 2019 IPL. The hard-hitter scored 180 runs in 8 matches in the 2019 IPL for KXIP.
Sarfaraz Khan is immensely talented and he has the potential to get that one big knock which will pitchfork him into the prominence.
