NEW DELHI: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) retained Virat Kohli for Rs 21 crore before the IPL 2025 Auction, fueling speculation about his potential return as captain. Former skipper Faf du Plessis was released, hinting at Kohli’s likely leadership comeback. TimesofIndia.com previously reported that the Indian run machine is set to reclaim the captaincy for the upcoming season.
RCB’s Director of Cricket, Mo Bobat, addressed the captaincy topic, saying: “Virat is a central figure and a senior member of the team.We haven’t made any captaincy decisions yet. He shared some insightful feedback with us yesterday, which was great.”
The franchise also retained Rajat Patidar (Rs 11 crore) and Yash Dayal (Rs 5 crore) ahead of the auction.
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At the IPL 2025 Auction, RCB made bold moves, acquiring Phil Salt (Rs 11.50 crore) and Jitesh Sharma (Rs 11 crore) after intense bidding wars.
All-rounder Liam Livingstone and pacer Josh Hazlewood returned to the squad for Rs 8.75 crore each, while experienced bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar joined for Rs 10.75 crore. Other key signings included Rasikh Dar (Rs 6 crore), Suyash Sharma (Rs 2.6 crore), and Krunal Pandya (Rs 5.75 crore).
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RCB stalwart Dinesh Karthik welcomed Hazlewood’s return.
“Everybody from RCB and all the fans have all said let’s go for Josh Hazlewood and here we have him. Josh Hazlewood, it was all about who we can get and we got Josh Hazlewood. I think all the Bengaluru should be smiling at that option because we have seen what he can do in the year that he came, we qualified and he was such a major and integral part of that attack,” Karthik said.