A lot of thinking goes behind the retentions, and it was quite evident at the IPL 2022 mega auction. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bought Harshal Patel for INR 10.75 crore, which made him their joint-most expensive pick in the current auction, alongside Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga.
After the dust settled on day 1, Patel revealed that he already had a 'communication' with the franchise ahead of the auction, while also opening up on the math why RCB didn't retain him instead.
The Indian pacer who got 32 wickets last season, as he tied the record for most wickets in a single IPL campaign, revealed how RCB did the math and opted to let Harshal go into the auction pool to save money for the event.
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Speaking on Star Sports' show Byju's Cricket Live ahead of the action on day 2 of IPL mega auction, Harshal said, "They basically told me that if we retain you, we'll have to pay you 6 crore and 9 crore will be deducted out of our purse because you will be the fourth player. So we don't want to do that and we'd rather that you earn that money in the auction and we'll try our best to get you back. So that was the only communication."
RCB decided to retain Virat Kohli, Mohammed Siraj and Glen Maxwell instead, leaving the fourth slot vacant. Quite a think-tank RCB have!
Harshal Patel meanwhile was happy to be going back to the Challengers once again after all the huffing and puffing they did in the auction. Naturally, last season's top-wicket taker would attract a lot of bids, and that's exactly how it panned out.
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Sunrisers Hyderabad gave RCB a tough time, and in a matter of minutes, the bidding was up to Rs 8 crore from Harshal's base price of Rs 2 crore.
"When they traded me back from Delhi, they gave me an opportunity and responsibility that I was not expecting to fulfil. They backed me, saw something in me and that means a lot. The price tag is obviously huge but at the same time, the amount of faith they've shown in me means a lot," said Patel.
