File image of Dale Steyn
South African speedster Dale Steyn seems all pumped up and confident that Royal Challengers Bangalore will lift their maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy in the impending 2020 season.
Steyn, who had returned to IPL last year as a replacement player after a nine-year-long gap, was ruled out with a shoulder injury after playing just two matches for RCB. He was eventually released by the franchise ahead of the IPL 2020 auction in Kolkata last Thursday but was picked up again at his base price of INR 2 crore after he went unsold in the first round.
Steyn on Friday had engaged in a Q and A on Twitter where he was asked by a fan on RCB's chances to win the IPL trophy in the 13th season, and he replied, "I'm there, so, yeah!"
When asked about his plan for the tournament, Steyn said, "Wickets, wickets and more wickets! With the added bonus of that trophy! Watch this space."
Talking about RCB recalling Steyn at the auction, Director of Cricket Mike Hesson revealed that the South African legend was part of their plan throughout.
"We knew we wanted Steyn but we knew if we put a bid on him early, it might have gone up to three or four crore, which would have had flow-on effects," RCB director of cricket Mike Hesson said in a video posted by RCB.
"It was the same with Isuru Udana as well. We thought Udana was going to be well sought after, so we had to slow-play that one a little bit. In the end, it worked out the way we wanted but it did require a sense of patience, which is not one of my main attributes.
"I probably exchanged a couple of hundred messages with Virat [Kohli, the RCB captain] for a couple of hours. I think he thought we went to sleep in the middle for a couple of hours as well, but he was well aware of what our planning was. He was keen at the end, as we were, to get Udana and Steyn."
