RCB REVAMPS BOWLING LINEUP! TRIPLE H RELEASED – PART 1

The recent IPL auction, which was conducted in December 2023, was supposed to be just a mini-auction where teams bought and sold a few players to strengthen their existing teams. But the Royal Challengers Bangalore surprised everyone by removing a large part of their bowling lineup. RCB removed the Australian Pacer Josh Hazelwood, Indian medium pacer Harshal Patel, and Sri Lankan mystery spinner Hasaranga. These three bowlers were the backbone of RCB's bowling for the past three years. In 2021, Harshal Patel was the highest wicket-taker in the entire tournament, performing exceptionally for RCB, especially in the death overs. In 2022, Hasaranga, in his debut IPL season, was the second-highest wicket-taker in the entire tournament, and over the years, Hazelwood has been consistently supporting all the bowlers around him.

So, it was a shock to hear that RCB removed these three important players, considering their past performance. Let us look at the two main reasons why RCB released these players.

1.   Change in venue: The home base of the RCB, the Chinnaswamy stadium, is a batting paradise that favors big hitters due to its small boundaries and pace-friendly pitch. As mentioned, the three players performed exceptionally well in the past few years, but a point to note is that in 2020, 2021, and 2022, the IPL was not played in each team's home stadium. From 2020 to 2021, the IPL was played in the UAE, where the pitches were more friendly and accommodating towards medium Pacers. This allowed Harshal Patel to have his dream season, where he took a record-breaking 32 wickets in one season. In 2022, the IPL was played in India, but the teams did not play on their home ground; this year, Hasaranga was the tournament's second-highest wicket-taker. But last year, the IPL went back to its original format, with each team playing half of their matches on their home ground. This exposed the Triple H and their inability to adapt to the Chinnaswamy. Thus, they were unable to make it to the playoffs.

2.   Purse: Each IPL team has a salary cap on how much money can be spent on the entire squad. The high quality of Triple H also demanded higher wages. This limited RCB's ability to invest money to strengthen other areas of the squad. By removing the Triple H, RCB was able to free up to INR 40 crores, which they can use to strengthen their squads and adapt to the Chinnaswamy stadium.

The move to remove the Triple H is bold, but many will argue that it was necessary. The risk of this bold move depends on the decisions RCB has taken in the mini-auction. We will discuss the payoff of this risk in Part 2 of this article.