IPL Auction 2020 | We wanted Steyn but early bidding could have had flow-on effects, reveals Mike Hesson
Mike Hesson revealed that Dale Steyn was always a part of RCB’s plan but a clumsy purse amount made them play the patience game. Hesson feels that Aaron Finch will help unburden the duo of Kohli and de Villiers while he also shared that Chris Morris’s all round skills is a great addition.
Going into the auction with a clumsy purse amount of Rs 27.90 crores it seems like Royal Challengers Bangla (RCB) has done a pretty good job including some last minute additions like Dale Steyn and Isuru Udana. RCB’s director of cricket, Mike Hesson, revealed that Dale Steyn was always a part of there plans as they roped him in after the South African pacer went unsold for three times.
Steyn played only two matches for RCB last season as he came in as the replacement of an injured Nathan Coulter Nile and picked up four wickets before being released by the south Indian franchise prior to the auction. Hesson explained that a clumsy purse made them play the patience game to rope in Steyn.
"We knew we wanted Steyn but we knew if we put a bid on him early, it might have gone up to three or four crore, which would have had flow-on effects," Hesson told the RCB's website. "It was the same with Isuru Udana as well."
"We thought Udana was going to be well sought after, so we had to slow-play that one a little bit. In the end, it worked out the way we wanted but it did require a sense of patience, which is not one of my main attributes.
"I probably exchanged a couple of hundred messages with Virat [Kohli, the RCB captain] for a couple of hours. I think he thought we went to sleep in the middle for a couple of hours as well, but he was well aware of what our planning was. He was keen at the end, as we were, to get Udana and Steyn."
The director of cricket feels that inclusion of Aussie skipper Aaron Finch will work miracles in relieve the duo of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers from carrying the weight of the batting unit as he believes that Chris Morris will add a new dimension to the side.
"We want someone who takes the pressure off AB [de Villiers] and Virat, so we've got a world class player," Hesson said of Finch. "Looking at the rankings, we've got three of the top five players in the world in terms of the last few years of T20 cricket so that is exciting.
"Chris Morris is a really good addition, in terms of being a three-in-one cricketer; he can bowl upfront, can bowl at the death, he's got some power with the bat as well. Udana is exciting, in terms of especially on slower surfaces, we felt we wanted that. Kane Richardson is one of the best bowlers in international T20s for a while, so we've got a really good mix of players," he signed off.
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