One of the biggest bids Royal Challengers Bengaluru ever made came last November in Riyadh, on the opening day of the IPL mega auction, when they fiercely battled Kolkata Knight Riders for all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer. RCB went as high as INR 23.50 crore before being outbid by a whopping INR 23.75 crore. But veteran India cricketer Abhinav Mukund believed it was actually a lucky escape. AB de Villiers’ confession exposed RCB’s winning template RCB instead used that sum to rope in Josh Hazlewood (INR 12.50 crore) and Phil Salt (INR 11.50 crore) — both of whom played pivotal roles in ending the franchise’s 18-year IPL title drought. Iyer, meanwhile, crumbled under the weight of expectations, enduring a season to forget. Speaking to the broadcasters, Mukund also reacted to a startling statement from AB de Villiers, who revealed he felt “overpaid” during his IPL stint. Mukund echoed the thought, adding that teams can often buy two proven match-winners for the price of one — just as RCB did with Salt and Hazlewood. “I was sitting next to AB de Villiers and he told me something that I don’t think any legend in the IPL has said. But he genuinely meant it, he said it from a place of emotion. He said I was overpaid. I’m overpaid, I thought I was overpaid because I feel like all of the other elements that you’re talking about, right? Where you’re able to buy so many other superstar players, all those match winners you’re talking about. The highest amount of money that they spent on was for someone like a Phil Salt or Josh Hazlewood. They didn’t cross 15,” he said. Looking back at the auction and Iyer’s season — where he scored just 142 runs in 11 innings — Mukund felt RCB must be relieved they didn’t spend on the India star, choosing instead to invest in Hazlewood, Salt, Jitesh Sharma, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. “In hindsight, they must be thinking, thank God we didn’t go all the way from Venkatesh Iyer. Because their last losing bid was Venkatesh Iyer. And the next three buys were Josh Hazlewood, Jitesh Sharma and I think Phil Salt. Those were the next three buys. And they saved so much in the bank for day two when Bhuvneshwar Kumar came in. So, it was a very clear plan that they wanted to buy all of these players,” he added. Mukund on Flower’s impact Mukund also talked about the crucial addition of Andy Flower as the head coach, with the Zimbabwean having the experience of guiding England to a World Cup win. “There was a template where they decided these were the kind of players that would suit our style. This is the brand of cricket that we’re going to play. And look, as much as we can talk about all of the players and Virat and 18 years of the dream. I think massive, massive credit must go to Andy Flower. Oh yes, absolutely. I think once Andy has come in, this has changed completely. He took LSG to the playoffs, he’s part of the Punjab Kings. “He’s won the World Cup with England, he’s won championships all around the globe. Something’s switched. And credit to the management for giving him a free hand. You could see their CEO, Mr. Rajesh Menon in all of those conversations. He was very involved. And you could tell that they were hungry to get this done.”
