Aakash Chopra rips apart RCB’s auction strategy, questions their gameplan

After three back-to-back defeats in IPL 2024, Royal Challengers Bengaluru are in a state of bother. The Faf du Plessis-led side is eighth on the points table and if they don’t return back to winning ways, the team might end up failing to qualify for the playoffs of the competition. As per former cricketer Aakash Chopra, RCB’s problem started with the mega auction in 2022 when they let go of Yuzvendra Chahal to sign Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga.

The 46-year-old added the decision backfired and also stated that Kohli along with three foreign overseas batters is not the right template for the franchise. Chopra mentioned that it has been RCB’s formula for the longest time but it hasn’t worked out and on top of that, the franchise has been stubborn to keep backing the same strategy despite no success.

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“You let go of Chahal to buy Hasranga. And then let go of him to invest in the uncapped Indian spinners. It’s a fairly long journey to understand that #RCB’s bowling is a perennial weak-link but the attempt to resolve it is yet to be seen. As for the batting…Kohli plus 3 overseas batters is a strategy that hasn’t worked for nearly two decades…most teams would’ve walked a different path but not the RCB,” Chopra wrote on his X account.

Meanwhile, RCB’s batting unit has failed massively so far in the league. Barring Kolhi, all the other batters have failed to live up to their expectations, which is a big reason behind them losing four out of five matches so far in the tournament. The bowling unit has been ordinary as well. The experiment with Alzarri Joseph hasn’t worked out in the initial phase as he was replaced by Reece Topley but the Englishman hasn’t stepped up as well.

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When it comes to the spin department, they have Mayank Dagar and at times Karn Sharma, but they too haven’t delivered. Glenn Maxwell has done a decent job but the franchise needs him to deliver with the bat as well.