Former Team India cricketer Gautam Gambhir has come down hard on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) management for releasing 10 players ahead of IPL 2021 mini-auction. Incidentally, January 20 (Wednesday) was the last date for the franchises to submit the list of retained players ahead of the auction.
The Royal Challengers released the most number of players – 10 which included some of the big names like Aaron Finch, Chris Morris, and Moeen Ali. They have also released India internationals – Umesh Yadav and all-rounder Shivam Dube along with Parthiv Patel (now retired), Pawan Deshpande Gurkeerat Mann, Isuru Udana, and Dale Stey (opted out of IPL 2021).
Gautam Gambhir in shock after RCB leaves Chris Morris
Bangalore’s stance has surprised one and all including Gautam Gambhir, who has been a sharp critic of skipper Virat Kohli. Speaking on Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected, Gambhir said releasing 10 players ahead of IPL 2021 mini-auction will only lead to insecurity even among the players who have been retained.
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“The biggest problem with RCB is the plethora of changes they make every year, it will only bring insecurity to even the players who are a part of the squad. It’s not just about releasing 10 players, even the retained ones would be thinking that if they have one more bad season, they will be ousted too. This is a problem for coaches and mentors – just to save their positions, they cannot blame the players,” Gambhir said.
Among many, letting go of South African all-rounder Chris Morris surprised Gautam Gambhir the most. Morris was one of the better bowlers for the franchise in IPL 2020 and Gambhir expressed his shock at the franchise’s move to release the South African pacer.
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“Chris Morris had one bad season, you had shown so much of trust on him, and if you see, he did not have that bad a season. No doubt, he was unfit in the beginning of the season, but when he played, he bowled really well. And they could have also stuck with Umesh Yadav for one more season given the dearth of pacers who are available,” he added.
RCB’s retained players list: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Josh Philippe, Shahbaz Ahmed, and Pavan Deshpande.
