'We'll pay you 6 but 9 crore will be deducted' - Harshal Patel explains why RCB did not retain him ahead of IPL mega auction

All-rounder Harshal Patel was brought for a hefty sum of INR 10.75 crores by the franchise with whom he started his IPL journey, the Royal Challengers Bangalore. As soon as the all-rounder’s name came under the hammer, RCB wasted no time in starting to bid for the 31-year-old. However, Patel found takers in a lot of franchises.

The Chennai Super Kings started bidding for him but withdrew when the bid reached INR 4.40 crore. However, RCB weren’t to be reunited with their leading wicket-taker from last year that soon as the Sunrisers Hyderabad entered the picture, and the bidding went neck-to-neck for some time until the RCB finally outbid them to acquire Harshal Patel for a huge sum of INR 10.75 crore.

‘We’ll try our best to get you back’ – Harshal Patel reveals communication with RCB

“They basically told me that if we retain you, we’ll have to pay you 6 crore and 9 crores will be deducted out of our purse because you will be the fourth player. So we don’t want to do that and we’d rather that you earn that money in the auction and we’ll try our best to get you back. So that was the only communication,” Harshal said on Cricket Live ahead of Day 2 auction.

Having been picked up by Mumbai Indians in 2010, Harshal was picked up by the RCB for the 2012 season of IPL. He stayed with RCB till 2017 before moving to Delhi Daredevils for the 2018 edition.

Talking about being reunited with the RCB, he said: “When they traded me back from Delhi, they gave me an opportunity and responsibility that I was not expecting to fulfill. They backed me, saw something in me and that means a lot. The price tag is obviously huge but at the same time, the amount of faith they’ve shown in me means a lot,” he added.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli, Mohammed Siraj and Glenn Maxwell are the three players RCB retained before auction. Harshal had his best season ever in the IPL last year when he took the joint-most wickets taken in a single season (32) which included a fifer against Mumbai Indians as well.