New Delhi: Royal Challengers Bengaluru bought 19 players at the IPL 2025 Auction in Jeddah and their strategy seemed very clear. The franchise didn't look desperate for a captaincy option and were smart with their bids at the two-day event. The most expensive player bought by the franchise was Josh Hazlewood for Rs 12.50 crore and it wasn't a surprise that their bids for Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul - two prominent captaincy options in the pool - didn't cross Rs 11 crore and Rs 10.50 crore respectively.
As TimesofIndia.com had reported, Virat Kohli is set to return as RCB captain from the 2025 edition and the makeup of the 22-member (19 buys and three retentions) squad points in that direction too. They went after Pant and Rahul but the bidding pattern wasn't desperate. It seemed like bids for the two players was to form the the core but not as a leadership option. They didn't even raise the paddle for another option - Shreyas Iyer - who eventually went to Punjab Kings for Rs 26.75 crore.
