Irfan Pathan feels that RCB might not find a captain from among the three players they retain for the 15th season and would rather have to look for a skipper from the IPL auction pool.
One of the biggest challenges for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the impending Indian Premier League (IPL) auction for the 2022 edition will be finding a new skipper as regular skipper Virat Kohli stepped down from his role at the end of IPL 2021.
Irfan Pathan: Glenn Maxwell Would Be Retained, But He Won’t Be Assigned Skipper Because He Is A Free-Flowing Cricketer
Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels that Royal Challengers Bangalore might not find a captain from among the three players they will retain for the 15th season.
Talking about RCB’s possible retention for IPL 2022 during Lunch on day 4 of the ongoing first Test between India and New Zealand, Irfan Pathan felt that the franchise should retain Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who was their top scorer last season, but added that he shouldn’t be given the responsibility to captain the side.
“I think someone from the auction. Because whatever the 4 players are in my head, Virat is obviously not going to captain he has announced that, Glenn Maxwell is there, but you do not want to give him the captaincy because he his kind of a free-flowing cricketer and you do not want to give him that kind of responsibility. You want him to play freely,” he explained.
With AB de Villiers retiring from all formats of the game, many expect RCB to retain Australia’s Glenn Maxwell, who was one of their top performers last season. He scored 513 runs, his second-highest run-tally in an IPL season after 2012, at 42.75 and at a strike rate of 144.10 with six half-centuries.
Glenn Maxwell had a poor IPL outing in 2020 (for KXIP at UAE), managing just 108 runs in 13 matches averaging a pathetic 15.42, but managed to earn big bucks when RCB signed him for a whopping INR 14.25 crore.
Irfan Pathan Leaves Out IPL 2021 Purple Cap Winner Harshal
Irfan Pathan also felt that RCB should retain Yuzvendra Chahal and pacer Mohammed Siraj.
“The third is Chahal, who is a bowler. The fourth one is a topic of discussion but I will go with Siraj. So you might to find leadership in that but you might find it in the auction. They need to work hard on that part,” he added.
The 4 picks imply that former pacer Irfan Pathan has left out Harshal Patel, who picked 32 wickets last season to grab the Purple Cap, but Irfan Pathan explained that Mohammed Siraj is a “more complete package” and is a “more long-term option”.
“A lot of people will be thinking about Harshal Patel, he was the Purple Cap winner, but when you look at the complete package in Mohammed Siraj who can bowl with the new ball and deliver outstanding yorkers, he has got pace as well. So you might be looking at a more long-term option. I certainly think it’s Siraj,” he explained.
Irfan Pathan was also full of praise for leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and opined that RCB shouldn’t let go of a bowler like him.
“In Chinnaswamy, you need a spinner who bowls with a big heart. And Chahal has got a big heart. He takes wicket and knows the pitch in and out. Not many spinners come to Chinnaswamy and takes that kind of wicket what Chahal has given. You do not want to lose a bowler like him.”
He picked up as many as 32 wickets in 15 games, making him the highest Indian wicket-taker in a single season and joint-most with Dwayne Bravo. Mohammed Siraj who has picked 50 scalps in as many IPL matches, picked up 11 scalps in 15 appearances averaging 32.09 in IPL 2021, but RCB lost the Eliminator to runners-up KKR despite the two pacers’ excellent performances.
Yuzvendra Chahal picked only four wickets in seven games in the India leg of the 2021 Indian Premier League, at an economy rate of 8.26, which saw him fall out of contention for the race to the T20 World Cup squad, to Rahul Chahar, who snared 11 wickets in as many games at an economy rate of 7.21.
However, the RCB leg spinner made an impressive comeback in the second leg, picking 14 wickets in eight matches at an economy rate of 7.06.