Letting go of Yuzvendra Chahal is something Royal Challengers Bengaluru could regret for the longest time and the franchise's former director of cricket, Mike Hesson on Tuesday insisted they failed to retain the leg-spinner due to a miscalculation at the last IPL auction.
On Monday, Chahal scripted history by becoming the first player in IPL to have taken 200 wickets.
"Yuzi is one I will be frustrated with until I have finished my career and probably beyond. He is an outstanding bowler. I guess when it comes to every cycle, you have got to decide who you are going to retain.
"It was one of those things where if you only retain three players, you give yourself an extra 4 crore in the auction. That potentially gave us the chance to get both Harshal and Yuzi," Hesson told former India batter Robin Uthappa on Jio Cinema. Hesson said Chahal's name came pretty late in the auction and by that time, the franchise had already bought ace Sri Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga.
"... Then the order of the auction came up and Yuzvendra Chahal was at no. 65. Because we had retained that many players we were going to get bullied. After Yuzi there was no other spinner we were interested in.
"We were obviously interested in Hasaranga as another option if we did not get Yuzi. So we bid for him upfront and then once we got Hasaranga that meant we could not go for Yuzi," he added.
In 153 matches, Chahal has taken 200 wickets at an average of 21.60, with the best figures of 5/40. He has taken six four-wicket hauls and a five-wicket haul in his IPL career.
Chahal reached the milestone during the match against Mumbai Indians in Jaipur on Monday. Hesson served as the franchise's director of cricket from 2019-2023.
Meanwhile, former Australia pacer Brett Lee praised RR seamer Sandeep Sharma for returning excellent figures of 5/18 against MI and said picking a five-for in a T20 match is equivalent to scoring 120 runs with the bat.
"They say a 4-fer is worth 100 runs in a T20, so a 5-fer for a bowler is definitely worth 120 for a batter, it's quality bowling... To pick up 5/18 in his comeback game, just makes you feel like you are part of the team again. "It will do a lot for his confidence. You can see in the list of TATA IPL 2024's best figures and he's sitting pretty on it."
Lee on lavished praise on Chahal for picking his 200th IPL wicket.
"What a very special moment. You think about all the hard work,. A great way to bring in your 200th dismissal in the TATA IPL, a catch off your own bowling, very special, well done. I have a feeling, gentleman, there's many more to come," Lee said.
