IPL 2018 | Kohli, AB, Chahal or Gayle? Who will Royal Challengers Bangalore retain ahead of mega auction?

This is, however, a stark contrast to animosity and veneration that one team in the IPL receives – Royal Challengers Bangalore. The team has never actually won the IPL crown, despite getting agonizingly close a couple of times, but it isn’t really the honours that have attracted the crowds to the Chinnaswamy for a decade. The role of the Pied Piper has been played by the sheer names that the management has been able to add to the teamsheet year in and year out.

Virat Kohli

AB de Villiers 

Yuzvendra Chahal

Believe it or not, this IS the right call to make for the Challengers. There is no doubt that Chris Gayle still has a lot left in the tank to win games on his own. His exploits in all the leagues across the globe are a testament to his talent as a player. This could very well blow up in RCB’s face but it is definitely a risk worth taking. Let’s break it down to the two major reasons that a player is retained – marketability and ability. The aforementioned players take care of the first part so it's just the second part that needs to be addressed. While Gayle can pile on the runs, Chahal, at the other end, can restrict them. So it comes down to one simple factor – Who will be more expensive in the auction? The answer is the Indian. He, not only, does not fill up the overseas quota but is probably the best limited-overs bowler that India have to offer. That automatically makes him the best option available for RCB.

KL Rahul 

After an absolute monstrous performance in the Test series against Australia last year, where he scored an incredible six fifties in seven innings, Rahul was ruled out for more than four months and ended up missing the entire IPL season. But it wasn’t his Test exploits that RCB were interested in. A year before when RCB made it all the way to the final, Rahul had been one of the unsung heroes of the team. While the fans went gaga over Kohli and AB’s brilliance that year, very few will actually be able to remember that Rahul averaged a cool 44.11 at a strike rate of 146.49 in the same season. It is very likely that he will eventually go over the 10 crore bar in the IPL, but that will be an amount that RCB will be ready to pay. Being a local lad doesn’t hurt his cause as well.

This is a difficult one but it has to be the big man. He edges out Kedar Jadhav ever so slightly due to the fact that there are only two real franchises, Delhi and Punjab, that will be interested in signing the Windies star. His credentials speak for themselves but, to be realistic, it might be too much pressure on RCB’s purse to retain him and Rahul. However, Gayle’s ability cannot be discounted and if RCB can buy him back for anything less than 7 crores it might be the biggest heist since Mumbai Indians signing Hardik Pandya for a mere 10 lakhs in 2015. 

How logical is the policy