Australia’s Steve Smith was bought by the Delhi Capitals (DC) for just Rs 2.20 crores in the IPL 2021 auction. It was just a tad above his base price of Rs 2 crores and he had received just one another bid, from Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
However, the RCB table pulled out of the bidding, once DC made a bid for Steve Smith and when no other franchise made an effort to buy the Australian, Smith was sold to DC.
RCB on Tuesday released a video from their mock auctions before the main event, where their think-tank - including their Director of Cricket Operations, Mike Hesson discussing their strategy to bid for Steve Smith.
Hesson was pretty clear from the start that RCB should not bid for Steve Smith as he didn’t provide them with a bowling option.
He later clarifies that they are primarily looking for a batsman, but he should be able to provide a bowling option and later successfully bid for Australia’s Glenn Maxwell, for Rs 14.25 crores, after a bidding war with Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
"I'm not even sure anyone is going to bid for him in the first round," Hesson later says.
In a snippet from another clipping, Hesson is seen saying, “Best thing we can do, is bid for him early and then get out. So, if CSK buys him, for example, they can't go for Maxwell. They're the only ones at the moment who can outbid us.”
"And if we're left with Steve Smith for Rs 2 crore, it's not the end of the world," he adds.
Here is the video:
