The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) franchise are one of the most popular teams in the IPL. They play an attractive brand of cricket comprising who’s who of world cricket. But even after 13 completed seasons, their trophy cabinet lies barren. The main reason behind this is their player signings in the auction. RCB either don’t trust enough or trusts excessively in their players. 5 worst signings by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL history.
StumpsandBails looks at 5 worst signings by RCB in IPL history:
#5 Cheteshwar Pujara
5 Worst signings by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL history. Cheteshwar Pujara couldn’t really convert his red ball exploits into T20 runs. He has often been overlooked by IPL teams. But in 2011, RCB did show faith in Pujara when they picked him for INR 3.2 crores. Pujara played 7 games that season but couldn’t do much of note for the franchise. Him being sold for such an amount didn’t make cricketing sense.
#4 Tymal Mills
Tymal Mills’ signing created huge euphoria among the IPL circles. The T20 specialist bowler was expected to fetch big money but even he would have been surprised with what he got in the auctions. RCB signed Mills for a whopping INR 12 crores. Mills played just 5 games for RCB that season and picked up 5 wickets. He was immediately released ahead of the next season. It was a terrible decision to invest such a huge amount in a bowler who was a plain unknown back then.
#3 Chris Woakes
RCB had famously picked all 4 KKR bowlers in 2018 who had collaborated to dismiss RCB for 49 in 2017. Chris Woakes was one of those bowlers. RCB picked him for INR 7.4 crores. Woakes did start his IPL stint with RCB splendidly picking up 3 wickets. But he couldn’t replicate this form in the next few games. Woakes remained on the sidelines after playing 5 games in 2018. He was benched for the rest of the season and later was released from the squad ahead of 2019 auctions.
#2 Saurabh Tiwary
Saurabh Tiwary had a breakthrough IPL season in 2010 with the Mumbai Indians. He scored 419 runs at a strike rate of 135. Tiwary made his way into the Indian team based on his 2010 exploits. RCB were impressed with Tiwary and invested a huge INR 7.36 crores in him. But Tiwary flattered to deceive each season until 2013. He just had a single score of fifty-plus in his 40 game association with the franchise.
#1 Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik though underrated remains quite a popular force in IPL. He has always pocketed heavy paycheques representing different teams. Delhi once bought him for INR 12.5 crores that raised many eyebrows. In 2015, RCB bought Karthik for INR 10.5 crores. They wanted to fill the void of Yuvraj Singh whom they had released ahead of the auctions. But Karthik could muster just 130 runs across 16 games and didn’t really help RCB’s cause.
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