According to the cricket pundits, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have picked a fairly decent side for the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Having entered the IPL 2021 auction with the available purse of INR 35.40 Crore, RCB bought 10 players including the likes of Kyle Jamieson, Daniel Christian, Sachin Baby, Mohammed Azharuddeen and Kona Srikar Bharat.
Among the overseas players, the Bangalore-based franchise also fetched Australia’s Glenn Maxwell, who is considered as one the most swashbuckling batsmen in world cricket.
See Also: ‘Can't wait to put everything’, Glenn Maxwell keen to help RCB lift the trophy
While RCB roped him for a whopping sum of INR 14.25 crore, they were mentally prepared to spend almost this much amount to acquire the services of Maxwell.
In a video released by RCB on Twitter, their Director of Cricketing Operations Mike Hesson can be seen participating in a mock auction to buy the Australian cricketer.
Hesson had expected Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to challenge them financially when it came to Maxwell and it turned out to be true.
On the auction day, RCB and CSK indulged in a bidding war for Maxwell post the Rs 4.40 crore mark.
RCB held their nerve and eventually signed up Maxwell after CSK refused to bid post the Rs 14 crore mark.
“The reason why we like him is that he’s the most dangerous in overs 10-15. Since 2014 in the middle overs, his average is 28 with a strike rate of 161.5. That would do us beautifully," Hesson said in the video.
"And he can be a bowling option. We need somebody in that top 6 that can bowl 3-4 overs, but Maxwell can bowl two. Those numbers are exceptional," he added.
