IPL 2022: Daniel Vettori reveals his choices for players RCB should retain ahead of mega auctions

Former New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori has revealed his choices for the players the franchise should retain ahead of the upcoming mega auctions before IPL 2022. Vettori felt that AB de Villiers’ retirement has, in a way, made it easy for the team to work around their retention choices, given he was a certain choice.

The former spinner stressed on Yuzvendra Chahal has one of the most obvious picks after his recent exploits with the team, as he bagged 18 wickets in the 2021 edition, averaging 20.77 and conceding runs at an economic 7.05 to help his team qualify into the Playoffs. RCB, however, crashed out after losing the Eliminator clash to Kolkata Knight Riders.

“RCB have avoided a dilemma with AB de Villiers retiring. Otherwise, it would have been difficult for them to figure who they had to retain – it would have been a tough balancing act. But Chahal’s performance last year means he has to stay with the franchise,” Vettori told ESPNcricinfo on being asked to name the reason behind his choice of choosing Chahal over Washington Sundar.

“If you had asked me a year or 18 months ago [about Chahal’s retention], then we could have had a relevant debate. But the way he bowled recently, it’s a no-brainer to retain him for me,” he added.

Notably, Chahal made a stellar turnaround after a forgettable first half of the Indian Premier League 2021. The leg-spinner could only pick four wickets in seven games in the Indian leg of the tournament but claimed 14 scalps from eight games in the UAE leg.

Meanwhile, Vettori revealed his other choices to be Virat Kohli, who will no longer lead the team, having stepped down after the conclusion of the 2021 edition, all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who was the leading run-scorer for the team in the previous edition, and Harshal Patel, who bagged the Purple Cap after picking a record 32 wickets.

All the existing eight franchises have time until November 30 to name their retained players, while Ahmedabad and Lucknow, the two new franchises, will then be allowed to pick a maximum of three non-retained players between December 1-25.