The IPL (Indian Premier League) 2026 auction finally concluded, and the 10 franchises put in their best effort to lure the biggest names within their ranks ahead of the 19th edition of the tournament. Ahead of the new season of the IPL, many eyes would be set upon defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
After the IPL auction, former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers took centre stage and talked about the various buys that RCB made in the auction ahead of the new season.
"There was no panic at the auction and no surprise with it. They are the defending champions and there's reason for that and you don't want to change the winning recipe. Jordan Cox is a good signing. Bit of a backup. I don't know how much he will play but a very talented youngster,” AB de Villiers said in a video on his YouTube channel.
“Venki Iyer is the big signing. They got him at a very big discount. The main one I want to talk about is Mangesh Yadav. Backup for Yash Dayal, maybe he will be more than a backup. Also Jacob Duffy was a nice backup for Hazlewood. It is a championship winning squad. Maybe a little bit lacking in the X factor spin department. Would have been nice to see another wrist-spinner. But I feel RCB have a chance to defend the title," he added.
De Villiers weighed in on KKR’s bowling attack as well
Furthermore, De Villiers also gave his take on the bowling attack of Kolkata Knight Riders. He opined that the 2024 champions have got a brilliant attack while bowling in the death, and the same could prove to be useful to them.
"KKR went big on the overseas stars. Green is the big one. Pathirana, as he was just about to become the senior player of CSK, KKR said they would like to use all of his experience and have that firepower. Mustafizur always gets wickets and is dangerous at the backend. It is difficult to pick up the slower ones, and they have got good insurance for the death overs with him there," he said.
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