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Pat Cummins. (Photo Source: X(Twitter)

Royal Challengers Bangalore released some of their key players in the form of Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, and Josh Hazlewood ahead of the IPL auction with an aim to rebuild their bowling unit. Interestingly, the franchise went extreme with their bid for Australia skipper Pat Cummins, bidding for the all-rounder until INR 20.25 crore despite having a budget of only INR 23.25 crore. 

Analysing the situation, former cricketer Aakash Chopra stated that in case Sunrisers Hyderabad had pulled out of the race, RCB would have suffered a big blow as the team required more quality players. He added that the flat deck in Chinnaswamy wouldn’t have helped the team and it would have made their line-up very weak.

“They had totally made up their mind that they wanted Pat Cummins at any cost and they kept going after him, kept lifting the paddle. It went till 20 crores and I folded my hands and said – ‘think a little’. If you had got Pat Cummins for 20 crores and you had 23.25 crores, would Pat Cummins have bowled from both ends?” Chopra stated on his YouTube channel.

“If they had bought Pat Cummins, if SRH had pulled out at that stage, and they would have got him for 20 crores, their team would have become extremely weak. When you released so many players and if you had picked Pat Cummins on a small Chinnaswamy ground with a flat pitch, you would have been hit a lot,” he added.

Send Merry Christmas and Happy New Year cards to Hyderabad because they saved you: Aakash Chopra

Chopra hilariously asked RCB to send ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Happy New Year’ cards to SRH as he believes that the 2016 winners saved the franchise by not pulling out of the Cummins bid. The 46-year-old also mentioned it was surprising for him to see RCB not bidding for Mitchell Starc and Gerald Coetzee.

“So send Merry Christmas and Happy New Year cards to Hyderabad because they saved you. They just went all out and you got saved. It was very interesting that they wanted Pat Cummins but didn’t bid for Gerald Coetzee and Mitchell Starc,” Chopra said.