IPL Retention: RCB retain three players for 2018 season

The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have been a phenomenal outfit in the Indian Premier League over the years. They have had some of the biggest cricketing names in their side. Despite all the firepower on the paper, team RCB have failed to get their act right in the tournament. They have never won an IPL championship. However, they have had their appearances in the playoffs.

Needless to say, the RCB camp had some serious brain churning to do ahead of the cut off dates for the IPL 2018 player retention. The Governing Council had set the date of January 4, 2018 as the cut off date for the franchises to narrow down their players they wish to retain ahead of the auctions. A team was allowed a maximum of three retentions.

The RCB camp made no mistake here and went for the full monty. They made use of all their three retentions. Retaining skipper Virat Kohli was an obvious choice. Virat has been the pillar stone of the Royal Challengers Bangalore lineup for the last few seasons. In the 2016 edition of the tournament, he had amassed 973 runs with four centuries.

Kohli had an off time in the 2017 edition but the team would hope for an improved show in the coming season. The next retention was an obvious choice as well. Hard hitting South African batsman AB de Villiers managed to make the cut as the second retention for the RCB camp. Much like Kohli, AB has also been an integral part of the Bangalore franchise setup.

Surprising third retention

After retaining Kohli and AB, it was expected that the franchise could retain the big Jamaican Chris Gayle. But the team chose to retain uncapped Indian player Sarfaraz Khan. It is worth noting that Sarfaraz was kept out of the playing eleven for a major part of the season last year owing to fitness concerns.

RCB have shelled out INR 17 crore to retain Virat Kohli – the highest paid retention. They will be giving out INR 11 crore to AB de Villiers, and they had to spend INR 3 crore for Sarfaraz. Sarfaraz’s league fees would be INR 1.75 crore. They have INR 49 crore left in their purse for the auctions. Also, they can use 2 Right to Match cards at the auctions now out of the three permissible ones.

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