Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) released Wanindu Hasaranga. Josh Hazlewood and Harshal Patel ahead of the IPL auction and they picked the likes of Yash Dayal and Alzarri Joseph in the auction. Aakash Chopra takes a dig at their ‘Loyalty is Royalty’ status after they released players without any proper communication. RCB bought Harshal Patel for a whopping 10.75 crores in the 2022 mega auctions and released him after two seasons.
Harshal Patel was the purple cap holder for RCB in 2021 when he picked up 32 wickets in 15 games for them. He famously got the name of ‘Purple Patel’ by former India opener Aakash Chopra. Harshal also took 19 wickets in 15 games for RCB in the 2022 season. He was out of touch in IPL 2023 and as a result, RCB released him ahead of the 2024 auction.
Recently, Aakash Chopra revealed that RCB did not make any proper communication to Harshal Patel about the decision to release him. Harshal thought that the franchise might show a little bit of faith as he had a good two seasons with them before a mediocre 2023. Harshal was bought for a massive 11.75 crores by Punjab Kings in the IPL 2024 auctions.
“They released Wanindu Hasraranga, Josh Hazlewood and Harshal Patel. Harshal Patel connected with us on JioCinema and he said ‘I was thinking that I did not have a good season but before that, I had two very good seasons so I was hoping that maybe they would show a little more faith but no.’ Harshal told that there was no communication regarding the decision of not retaining him,” Aakash said.
Watch- Aakash Chopra Talking About Zero Communication In RCB
“Loyalty is Royalty”
Ft. Royal challengers Bangalore for you pic.twitter.com/ieVBWjsisG— ???? (@legendmsd_07) December 23, 2023
Before Harshal Patel, a few more players were disappointed by RCB’s no communication nature. Yuzvendra Chahal, who is their highest wicket-taker till now was released by the franchise ahead of the 2022 season. He was purchased for INR 6.5 crores by Rajasthan Royals in the 2022 mega auctions. Yuzvendra Chahal was also not informed about the decision of him being released by the franchise.
Apart from Chahal, Chris Gayle was another player who accepted that he wanted to play for RCB further when the franchise released him ahead of the IPL 2018 mega auctions. Gayle went unsold in the first round of the 2018 auctions but was later picked up by Punjab Kings (Then Kings XI Punjab) for INR 1 crore. He was expecting Bangalore to bid for him but he was left disappointed.
Royal Challengers Bangalore has never won an IPL trophy and one of the reasons might be not trusting in their players. They released Shane Watson who was later picked up by Chennai Super Kings, CSK promoted him as an opener and as a result, Watson scored a century in the finals of IPL 2018 to make them champions. RCB never tried him as an opener and was using him as a lower middle-order prospect.
Royal Challengers Bangalore is left without a proper spin-bowling prospect ahead of the IPL 2024. They released Wanindu Hasaranga and now the most experienced spinner in the lineup is Karn Sharma who has played a Test match, a T20I, and two ODIs for India.
