Yuzvendra Chahal who is currently without an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise has expressed his desire to go for a big amount in the upcoming auctions. Chahal, who was released by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in November is poised to return to his old franchise but has accepted that the situation is not in his hand. The 31-year-old is an experienced campaigner in the shortest format, having applied his trade for RCB for eight long years.
“I don’t want to say that I want 15 crores or 17 crores, you know, 8 cr is enough for me!,” Chahal said in a conversation with Ravichandran Ashwin on his Youtube channel.
Chahal, who has been in and out of the national team was determined to stay with RCB, but with no Right to Match (RTM) option available this time, he will have to wait anxiously to make a return. He was retained by the Bangalore-based franchise in 2018 despite entering the bidding bowl through RTM.
“It’s the first time where I feel I can go anywhere because there’s no Right to Match (RTM) card. The last time (2018), RTM was available and they (RCB) had told me clearly that they’ll buy me using RTM in the auction no matter what… But this time, seriously, as a professional player, I am ready to go to any team,” the 31-year-old veteran said.
“Obviously, I want to go to RCB because I’ve been there for 8 years but it’s not like if I go somewhere else I’ll feel bad because everyone has to make a new team and it’s a major auction where there’s always purse constraints. Whichever team takes me, I’ll keep giving my 100%. It will take some time to adjust to a new franchise but that’s why we call ourselves professional players,” the right-arm spinner added.
IPL franchises will be keeping a close look on the leg-spinner, who can be a valuable addition any team. In 114 IPL matches, he has scalped 139 wickets and has a proven track record to attract the bids. The IPL auctions are set to take place on February 12 and 13 in Bangalore with a total of 590 players from 15 nations involved in the mega event.
