New Delhi: Royal Challengers Bengaluru shelled out Rs 11.50 crore for Phil Salt at the Indian Premier League mega auction, with the intention of pairing him up with Virat Kohli at the top of the order.
RCB’s head coach Andy Flower said that they bid big bucks for the England batter as they needed someone who will be aggressive at the top.
“We got a lot of our first options, actually. We’re really happy with where we stand at the moment. We’ve got power up front to an opening batsman like Salt to partner Virat, was really important for us to have that sort of aggression to partner Virat,” he said on Monday.
“We’ve got power in the middle, batting, absolutely. (Liam) Livingston is really exciting to have alongside Rajat (Patidar) and Jitesh (Sharma). We know that he is a man probably still with the best ahead of him.”
RCB also bought veteran seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, all-rounder Krunal Pandya and Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood.
“It was really great to get Bhuvi today. That level of skill, along with Krunal’s level of skill, will complement Hazlewood coming back to RCB. It would be great to have him back at the club,” he said.
“Yash Dayal, we saw what he did last year. We’ve got Rasik Salaam vying for a place as well. So that sort of skill in the bowling department is what you need at Chinnaswamy (Stadium),” he said.
‘Unfortunate for Faf’
Salt will assume the space vacated by former Faf du Plessis, for whom RCB didn’t bid.
“There were multiple discussions about Faf du Plessis. He’s been a wonderful leader for RCB. He’s a wonderful captain, amazing human being,” FLower said.
“And he’s in great form as well. But yesterday, we wanted to secure an opening batsman and did so, and got a batter-keeper in the bargain. So unfortunately, Faf, it didn’t fit for Faf to come back on this occasion.”
RCB’s head coach Andy Flower said that they bid big bucks for Phil Salt as they needed someone who will be aggressive at the top of the batting order. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
