IPL 2019: RCB Retain Core, Release McCullum, Woakes & Sarfraz

Despite failing to reach the play-offs in IPL 2018, RCB have persisted with 14 of the 20 players on their roster.

Brendon McCullum managed a meagre 127 runs in six matches for RCB in IPL 2018

(Photo: PTI)

Royal Challengers Bangalore have bucked the trend of sweeping overhauls among IPL franchises ahead of the 2019 auction by retaining a vast majority of the team’s core.

Having sold South African keeper-batsman Quinton de Kock to Mumbai Indians in a cash trade worth Rs 2.8 crore and traded batsman Mandeep Singh to Kings XI Punjab for Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis during the transfer window, RCB only released four further players.

Those were New Zealanders Brendon McCullum and Corey Anderson, England’s Chris Woakes and uncapped Indian batsman Sarfaraz Khan.

McCullum, who had come into the auction at a base price of Rs 2 crore, was bagged by RCB for Rs 3.6 crore at the IPL 11 auction. He played six matches during the season, scoring a total of 127 runs with a highest score of 43. English bowler Chris Woakes had picked up 8 wickets in the 5 matches he played last season.

The franchise has also retained 14 of their players that were in the squad last year, including captain Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal and Umesh Yadav.

This means RCB go into next month’s player auction retaining 14 of the 20 members who formed their unit in 2018, where they finished sixth out of eight teams.

Traded In: Marcus Stoinis

Traded Out: Quinton de Kock, Mandeep Singh

Retained Players: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Moeen Ali, Colin de Grandhomme, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Nathan Coulter-Nile

Released Players: Brendon McCullum, Chris Woakes, Corey Anderson, Sarfraz Khan