IPL Auction: 4 times RCB overspent on their players

The IPL Player Auction for the 13th season of the IPL took place in Kolkata on 19th December, and as always, it has given us a lot of talking points. Teams like CSK, MI and SRH were fairly settled before the auction, didn’t do much as they bought very few players in this auction.

On the other hand, teams like RCB, RR, KXIP and KKR who had to fill many vacant spots, spent a lot of money on their players. Talking about the Royal Challengers Bangalore, they had only two overseas players in their squad before the auction and had to get six more.

RCB bid heavily for Chris Morris and spent a total of 10 Crore on him. Many people were surprised to see the amount of money they spent on Morris. In the last IPL, Morris wasn’t at his best and that led to Delhi Capitals releasing him. If he has another lukewarm IPL, then RCB might regret spending that kind of money on the all-rounder. On that note, let’s have a look at the four instances when RCB have overpaid for their players.

#4 Saurabh Tiwary – 7.6 Crore

Saurabh Tiwary - 7.6 Crore

Saurabh Tiwary had just tasted success with the Mumbai Indians under the captaincy of Sachin Tendulkar. He, along with Ambati Rayudu, came out as the two future stars of India. He had scored over 400 runs in the 2010 IPL in which the Mumbai Indians reached the finals.

It was a fresh auction in 2011 and MI couldn’t retain Tiwary. The left-hander was in the auction and the Royal Challengers Bangalore broke the bank for him. Tiwary who had his base price set for 100,000$ was bought by the RCB team for 16 times his base price which is 1.6 million dollars (INR 7.6 Crore).

He was one of the top buys in that season but wasn’t one of the top scorers. He scored only 187 runs in 13 innings at an average of 23.37 and a strike-rate of less than 100. These numbers were not worth for the money spent on him and RCB would agree that they overpaid for Saurabh Tiwary.

#3 Shane Watson – 9.5 Crore

Shane Watson - 9.5 CR

Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings were banned for two years and so most of their players were back in the auction for the 2016 IPL season. This list included one Shane Watson.

He had performed well for Rajasthan Royals in the previous season and RCB were looking for an overseas all-rounder. Thus, they decided to go all out for the Aussie all-rounder.

They bought Shane Watson for a whopping 9.5 Crore and he became the most expensive buy in that year’s IPL Auction. However, he ended up having quite a poor season.

He was tried in many batting positions but still, he managed to score only 179 runs in 15 innings at an average of 13.76. He didn’t do the main job which he was bought for. He failed miserably with the bat, thus making his way to the list of overpaid players.

2. Dinesh Karthik – 10.5 Crore

Dinesh Karthik - 10.5 CR

RCB had bought Parthiv Patel in the 2015 auction, but they needed a wicket-keeper batsman who could bat in the middle-order because Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, and ABD were controlling the top-order.

Dinesh Karthik didn’t have a really good IPL in 2014 and hence, was released by the Delhi Capitals, then named Delhi Daredevils, who had bought him for a whopping 12.5 CR. The Royal Challengers targeted Karthik in the auction and as they tend to bid aggressively, they went all out and bought Karthik for 10.5 Cr.

With Kohli, ABD and Gayle in the squad it wasn’t necessary to spend so much on one player and the Bangalore-based franchise's problems only got worse when Karthik failed to fire. In the 11 innings in which he batted, he managed only 141 runs at an average of 12.81. RCB released him in the next year’s auction which confirmed the fact that they felt his services weren't worth the money they paid for him.

1. Yuvraj Singh – 14 Crore

Yuvraj Singh - 14 CR

Yuvraj Singh has been a superstar of Indian cricket but he never quite cracked the code of the IPL. India's 2011 World Cup hero never really set the stage on fire in the Indian Premier League. In 2014, there was a fresh auction and everyone was trying to build a team.

Yuvraj Singh was in the auction and most teams wanted a top-class middle-order batsman. As a result, there was an outright bidding war for the southpaw and RCB ended up getting him for INR 14 Cr. Yuvraj Singh became the most expensive buy of not only the 2014 auction, but also in the history of all IPL player auctions at the time.

Yuvraj Singh had a decent season with the bat as he scored 376 runs in 14 innings at an average of 34.18 but a bit more was expected of him. He failed to finish a few crucial matches which he should have. As a result, he was released in the next year’s auction to be bought at a cheaper price but his bid went even higher as he was bought by the Delhi Capitals for 16 Cr.