Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) ended the 18-year wait for an Indian Premier League (IPL) title on June 3 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. RCB head coach Andy Flower credited team director Mo Bobat for identifying how they want to bolster the squad with a good bowling lineup in the mega auction rather than spending heavily on batters with big statures.
"The auction is a huge first step that you've got to try and get as right as possible and (as a) part of (team director) Mo's (Mo Bobat) philosophy right up front, was to distribute the value a little more equitably rather than spending too much on big-name batsmen who are, of course, very fine players," Flower said in the post-final press conference on June 4.
"The importance of a good bowling attack was acknowledged absolutely adamantly right at the start before the auction and we worked towards that."
RCB did not go for the likes of Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. Instead, they went for utility players with certain roles in their mind and it paid off. Flower addressed the criticism and trolling around their mega auction streategy as well.
"I know after the first day of the auction, we were copping a little bit of flak. People thought that we were investing our money rather than spending it. But it meant that there was some really good value to be had on the second day," he said.
RCB's relatively expensive players in auction
RCB's most expensive buy in the mega auction was Josh Hazlewood at Rs 12.50 crore. The only other players to get more than Rs 10 crore in the mega auction were English opener Phil Salt (Rs 11.50 crore), wicketkeeper-batter and vice captain Jitesh Sharma (Rs 11 crore) and veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Rs 10.75 crore). As injured Devdutt Padikkal's replacement, they went for Mayank Agarwal and Tim Seifert, Blessing Muzarabani were roped in as temporary replacements.
Flower on RCB's value buys
Flower was happy with the way Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd and Suyash Sharma performed in the tournament.
"We had the money to then spend on that value. We got guys like Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar), Krunal (Pandya), Tim David, Romario Shepherd on that second day so that was really important," he said.
"Suyash Sharma has done really well for us — our little leg spinner. I thought he has handled himself really well through the season.
"Krunal is a big match player and a great competitor and that spell today (Tuesday) was the major difference between the teams," the former Zimbabwe captain added.
As Virat Kohli's wait for the IPL trophy comes to an end, the franchise has organised a victory parade in Bengaluru on June 4. The victory parade will also see RCB legends AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle.