Royal Challengers Bangalore complete squad for IPL 2022: Faf du Plessis to captain pace-heavy line-up?

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega auction took place in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13. It was a star-studded affair as the ten IPL franchises sat down to wisely add more strengths to their respective squads. At the end of the pulsating two-day mega auction, allten teams have tried to further bolster their respective line-ups ahead of the forthcoming IPL 2022 edition, set to be held in India.

Talking about the Virat Kohli-starrer Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), the three-time runners-up went into the auction pool with INR 570 million in their purse. The Bengaluru-based franchise went all-out to rope in some handy names whereas missed out on re-signing some players who were released prior to the mega auction.

RCB have churned out a well-balanced side this time around after the mega auction. The Bengaluru camp bought Faf du Plessis, former Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) opener, for INR 70 million (INR 7 crore) whereas spent a huge sum for re-signing Harshal Patel and Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga. Harshal was bought back for INR 107.5 million (INR 10.75 crore) whereas the No. 1 T20I bowler Hasaranga was also re-acquired for the same amount.

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On Day 2 of the mega auction, the RCB camp added more uncapped players and also bolstered their pace department by signing Australia's Josh Hazlewood and Jason Behrendroff. Among the uncapped list, they have included the likes of Shahbaz Ahamad, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror. RCB have also roped in former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Dinesh Karthik -- who wasa part of the Bengaluru side in 2015 -- for INR 55 million (INR 5.5 crore). He will surely add to their batting lower down the order.

Finn Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Karn Sharma, David Willey are also some known names in the format, who will add experience to the line-up.

Prior to the mega auction, RCB had retained former skipper Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Md. Siraj. It will be interesting to see who will be named the captain. As of now, it seems like 37-year-old Faf du Plessis is a frontrunner, having been acquired for over INR 50 million.

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Complete squad of RCB for IPL 2022:

Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, Faf du Plessis, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Josh Hazlewood, Shahbaz Ahamad, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff, Suyash Prabhudessai, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma,David Willey.

Squad strength:22 (14 - Indian, 8 - overseas)

Remaining purse: INR 15.5 million