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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) made a few questionable choices ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega auction but they have retained Virat Kohli as the top player despite him stepping down as the captain of the side. Among RCB’s three retention choices, Kohli has been retained for Rs 15 crore for the upcoming 15th edition of the cash-rich league which is Rs 2 crore less than his fee for previous few seasons.
Kohli made the decision to step down captaincy before the second phase of IPL 2021 which was played in United Arab Emirates (UAE). The 33-year-old took RCB to the IPL 2021 eliminator as his last season as captain for the franchise.
RCB retained a total of three players including Kohli. In absence of recently retired AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell became the second player to be retained by RCB for Rs 11 crore. The third player was Mohammed Siraj who has been retained for Rs 7 crore. With Rs 57 crore remaining in the purse, RCB will try to rebuild the team with new recruits for the upcoming seasons.
There were a few notable exclusions from the team including the highest wicket-taker of IPL 2021, Harshal Patel who recently made his India debut. Patel took 32 wickets in the season and was Kohli’s go-to man in the death overs. On the other hand, Yuzvendra Chahal was another surprising exclusion as he was impressive in the second phase of IPL 2021.
RCB are yet to announce their captain of the side for the 15th edition of IPL. It will be interesting to see if they give the leadership role to Maxwell or go big for KL Rahul or any other player in the auction.
