Mo Bobat decodes the strategy behind RCB’s bids at IPL 2024 Auction

With the IPL Auction 2024 coming to a close in Dubai yesterday, RCB made a few impressive additions to the squad, signing six players in Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Saurav Chauhan and Swapnil Singh.

Talking about the buys on JioCinema post the auction, RCB’s Director of Cricket, Mo Bobat, analyzed the entire process and how the team stands after the auction with all the slots filled.

Bobat said, “It was fun, really good fun. My first experience in the IPL auction. You can very well tell from the buys that we have recruited them from the POV of a bowling attack. That's good fun.”

Shedding some light on the larger ideology about the auction, Bobat said, “Given our retentions that we made, some of the brave decisions that we made, we did a bit of trade activity as well. We came to this auction with a pretty precise focus. The main focus was a frontline overseas bowler. That was the main thing that we wanted.”

Bobat further highlighted how RCB were also keen on signing both of IPL’s costliest players, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc. He said, “Now, there were obviously two big buys that everyone was after, Cummins and Starc. We wanted to have ourselves in a position to have a good crack at both of them. So the order does dictate what you are capable of doing. We did have a good crack at Cummins but obviously were outbid by SRH and ideally we would have liked to go for Starc but the order made that tricky.”

He continued, “So from our perspective Alzarri was another big target. So looking at the finances that were available for all the other teams at that moment, we couldn’t really risk the chance of losing Alzarri and then waiting for Starc and there was a good chance that we may have landed him. But the reality is we would have got outbidden because you can see the number that he got sold for. So a big judgment call from us. So, we’re very happy to go earlier to call for Alzarri before locking him in.”

Bobat also shared some insights on the signings of Ferguson, Dayal and Curran, saying, “After that it was just a case of having enough back up in those key roles. Getting Lockie Ferguson in was a great recruit for us as well. Yash Dayal is a good pick for us as well. Someone who has got real potential and someone like Tom Curran can also help as he can back up Cameron Green to some degree. He is a decent all-rounder and also an extra stock in the bowling attack. We have done a lot of work on our fast bowling today.”