Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) made some big moves during the IPL mega auction earlier this month, including the acquisition of former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis. RCB acquired the swashbuckling batter’s services for a fee of Rs 7 crore after a bidding war with Du Plessis’ former franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as well as Delhi Capitals (DC). On Sunday, RCB took to Twitter to reveal how the franchise had been planning Du Plessis’ acquisition. In a video shared on the micro-blogging platform, RCB shared the mock-auction where RCB’s management, including director of cricket operations Mike Hesson and head coach Sanjay Bangar, were present.
In the mock-auction, Hesson offered his thoughts on the importance of Du Plessis as they strategised his acquisition.
“With the options we have in our current squad and the uncertainty surrounding those, and the options we have at the auction, where we think we can gain a real advantage is with Faf du Plessis, who is obviously highly experienced. He has captained South Africa for long, won the IPL many times and is a very consistent performer in terms of how he operates. He’s a very strong character and highly respected. These are a lot of attributes you want in a leader,” Hesson said in the mock-auction.
“It’s pretty clear that CSK will likely try and get him back, as they do with all their players, which is very natural. He’s also in the marquee group; so, for us to have some structure and some planning going forward, we need to allocate some budget to get there. We have sort of gone through the teams that might look to go for him. CSK will obviously make a bid. No one will expect us in terms of who we are likely to look for,” added Hesson.
Every important decision needs preparation, and the think tank planned Faf du Plessis’s auction pick well ahead of the #IPLAuction, considering the experience and the leadership value he brings to the group. Watch to find out how it all unfolded.#PlayBold #WeAreChallengers pic.twitter.com/JpnvWCcT7Y
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) February 20, 2022
“We see this (Du Plessis’) role along with (Wanindu) Hasaranga as two most important overseas roles to get on the first day. There are a number of different permutations and combinations to get to this point and I’m sure there will continue to be some. But the primary role now is to start to fine-tune how we have to go about achieving that. The priority on Day 1 is to get Hasaranga and Faf. We have allocated well above budget to make sure we get them.”
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