IPL 2023: "It's The Same Old Story I Think When It Comes To That, We Need Couple Of Guys In The Top Order To Fire" - AB de Villiers On Royal Challengers Bangalore

The mini-auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season was held in Kochi on Friday, December 23. A total of 80 players, including 29 overseas players, were bought in the mini-auction. All-rounders Sam Curran, Cameron Green, and Ben Stokes were the top three most expensive buys in IPL history.

English players were in high demand during the mini-auction. Punjab Kings spent Rs. 18.50 crore on young all-rounder Sam Curran, who became the most expensive all-rounder in IPL history, while Chennai Super Kings paid Rs. 16.25 crore for the England Test skipper. The Mumbai Indians signed Australian all-rounder Green for INR 17.50 crore.

IPL 2023 | IND vs SL 2023 | India vs Sri Lanka 2023 | India National Cricket Team | IND vs NZ 2023 | India vs New Zealand 2023 | IND vs AUS 2023 | India vs Australia 2023

Josh Hazlewood Has Been The Best Find – AB de Villiers

AB de Villiers discussed Royal Challengers Bangalore’s performance at the recently concluded IPL auction in Kochi on Jio Cinema. The former RCB player stated that RCB deserved a solid nine out of ten for their auction performance. De Villiers said that he likes the look of the team and is all about building on last year’s success.

“Yeah, I like the look of this team that had a good season last year, they came close. There’s good balance, good backup, I just need a couple of guys in form. It’s the same old story i think when it comes to that, we need couple of guys in the top order to fire. There’s a lot of class in that line-up. I feel the bowling attack, Josh Hazlewood has been the best find. I think he is a quality class player, very experienced. That’s exactly what we needed in the last few years,” AB de Villiers said on JioCinema.

“It’s just a matter of getting Maxi in form and then somebody like a Rajat Patidar to make sure, he continues with that kind of form and a few guys chipping around him. Virat we know, batted well in the World Cup and if he is in form, we are gonna go a long way. So looking forward to see these boys perform. They’ve got a lot of confidence from last year and now it’s just a matter of building on that and taking it all the way. It’s(RCB) not my number one. It’s nine out of ten but they’ll come close,” he added.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Squad

Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Dinesh Karthik, Akash Deep, Anuj Rawat, Harshal Patel, Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Mohammed Siraj, Rajat Patidar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Siddharth Kaul, Suyash Prabhudessai, David Willey, Finn Allen, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Hazlewood, Wanindu Hasaranga, Reece Topley, Will Jacks, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Manoj Bhandage, Avinash Singh, Sonu Yadav.

Also read: IND vs SL: “2-3 Years Ago, He Was Tipped As The Next Indian Captain Now It’s A Different Scenario” – Ajay Jadeja On Shreyas Iyer

Virat Kohli | Rohit Sharma | Rishabh Pant | KL Rahul | Suryakumar Yadav | Sanju Samson | Shreyas Iyer | Yuzvendra Chahal | Jasprit Bumrah