Six of Royal Challengers Bangalore's overseas players for the impending 14th season of the Indian Premier League on Monday had a bad day in office during the T20I series opener between New Zealand and Australia in Christchurch.
Three of those players became RCB's newest recruits for the 2021 edition of the cash-rich league. All-rounder Kyle Jamieson, who was roped in for a whopping INR 15 crore last week in Chennai following an intense bidding war, returned with just one wicket in three overs while conceding at 10.75 runs per over. Glenn Maxwell, who was released by Kings XI Punjab ahead of the auction for his another poor IPL show last season, was picked up for INR 14.25 crore by RCB in a bid to strengthen their middle-order lineup. But the Aussie scored only one run off five deliveries and conceded nine runs in the only over he bowled.
Another RCB recruit, Daniel Sams, a left-arm pacer, who was traded from Delhi Capitals ahead of the auction, picked two wickets but at the cost of 10 runs per over in his four-overs spell while scoring one off three with the bat.
From RCB's existing overseas contingent, wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Philippe managed two off three, leg-spinner Adam Zampa returned with 0/20 in three overs while Kane Richardson picked one wicket in three overs with an economy rate of 10.66.
Meanwhile, RCB also picked Rajat Patidar, Sachin Baby, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Dan Christian, KS Bharat, Suyash Prabhudessai at IPL 2021 auction.
Talking about the New Zealand-Australia game, Devon Conway's unbeaten 99 helped New Zealand secure a crushing win over their neighbours. He walked in when New Zealand was 11-2 and left unbeaten with the team at 184 for five after winning the toss and batting first. In reply, Australia were folded for 131 runs.
“The wicket was a bit sticky at first but it got better and better as time went on and there were some good partnerships near the end there,” Conway said. “The key was just trying to stay positive throughout.
“When I’m positive that’s when I’m at my best. It was a matter of not trying to think too far ahead, just try to build good partnerships at the end.”
