Twitter reacts after RCB racks up Dale Steyn who went unsold in the initial rounds

There is no doubt that Dale Steyn is a once-in-a-generation bowler. The champion fast bowler has bamboozled batsmen around the world for fun whether it is Test cricket or white-ball forms of the game. In his prime, Steyn was the first man locked in as far as the playing 11 was concerned whether it was International cricket or an Indian Premier League franchise.

But, in the past two-three years, injuries have taken its toll on Steyn. The champion fast bowler, who also happens to be South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket, has missed a lot of cricket due to unrelenting injuries.

And, so when Steyn threw his hat into the 2020 Auction ring, everyone was sceptical about the champion fast bowler.  “Will the franchises take a risk on him, given his recent history with injuries?” This was one of the most questions raised every time Steyn’s name propped up in discussions.

And, for the large part of the Auction day, it looked like there were no takers for Steyn; no one was willing to risk his money on an injury-prone Steyn, and so the champion fast bowler- to the utter disappointment of his fans- went unsold in the initial stages of the auction.

But, then Royal Challengers Bangalore- A side Steyn represented in both the inaugural as well as the previous addition- decided to bank on their former spearhead and struck gold at the fast bowler’s base price of Rs 2 Crore.

Dale Steyn’s tryst with RCB 3.0 set to begin in the next edition

The late development would have come as a huge source of relief for Dale Steyn. The auction is taking place on a day where Steyn’s Big Bash League debut for the Melbourne Stars was delayed after he was injured while playing for Cape Town Blitz in the recently concluded Mzansi Super League.

Thanks to the injury, Steyn did not participate in the Blitz’s final MSL match against the Tshwane Spartans and the Royal Challengers Bangalore team-management and think-tank will be closely monitoring the fast bowlers’ fitness in the upcoming months leading into the IPL.

His concerns with injury notwithstanding, Steyn has been in brilliant form in T20 cricket in the past few months. The fast bowler finished as the third-highest wicket-taker in the recently concluded MSL. Steyn claimed 15 wickets at 15.13 and the onus will be on him to lead the RCB pace-attack that boasts of Mohammad Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, and Kane Richarson.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: