‘From poor to disastrous’ – Former India star slams RCB’s strategy during IPL Auctions 2025

Former India batting star Mohammad Kaif has slammed Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The 43-year-old slammed the strategies adopted by the Bengaluru unit during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auctions. RCB raised eyebrows by not going for Mohammed Siraj or Faf Du Plessis during the auction. 

Speaking to Star Sports, Kaif said, “RCB's auction planning was poor yesterday. It went from poor to disastrous today”.  There was a further shock for RCB fans as Will Jacks was picked by Mumbai Indians for INR 5.25 Crores. Akash Ambani walked to the RCB table and gave the team think tank a hug for not using the RTM card. 

Some of the notable buys include Phil Salt, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Tim David. The Bengaluru team also successfully bid for Krunal Pandya, Jitesh Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Salam Dar, and Suyash Sharma. 

Dinesh Karthik speaks on the purchase of Josh Hazlewood

Former India and RCB star Dinesh Karthik is the new batting consultant for his former side ahead of the new season. The 39-year-old was quoted as saying, “Everybody from RCB and all the fans have all said let's go for Josh Hazlewood and here we have him. Josh Hazlewood, it was all about who can we get and we got Josh Hazlewood. I think all the Bengaluru should be smiling at that option because we have seen what he can do in the year that he came, we qualified and he was such a major and integral part of that attack."

Meanwhile, Mohammad Kaif questioned KKR’s move to buy Venkatesh Iyer for INR 23.75 crore. Kaif said “I haven’t seen the potential in him if I take INR 23.75 crore into consideration. I know he can bat, bowl, and field, but still, it is a lot of money. They could have resigned Shreyas Iyer if they were willing to spend more than INR 23 crore”

The 43-year-old also said, “I think they saw something different and extraordinary in Venkatesh and got their man. Are they thinking of appointing Rinku Singh as their captain?”. According to a few reports, doing the rounds, Venkatesh Iyer could be named as the new skipper ahead of the new season. 

Venky Mysore the CEO of KKR speaking during the auctions said to ESPNCRICINFO, “For us, it was about trying to keep our core. We've kept six players and brought 2-3 players back from last year. That was always the kind of thinking and as far as he is concerned we didn't want to find ourselves in a situation where we may not be able to bring him back."