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Weren't looking at Steve Smith as an opening batsman, says RCB's Hesson

Raj Kantak Feb 18, 2021

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 18 (ANI): Royal Challengers Bangalore's Director of Cricket, Mike Hesson on Thursday clarified that the franchise was not looking to rope in Australia's Steve Smith as an opening batsman.
Smith had a base price of Rs 2 crore heading into the auction and RCB made the starting bid for him, but in the end, Smith was picked up by Delhi Capitals for Rs 2.2 crore.
"No, we were not looking at Steve Smith as an opening batsman. We felt we needed somebody in the first group to be sold and in terms of taking a batting spot up, if we got Steve Smith at 2 crore, we would have been very happy and we would have been able to use him at multiple roles, he is a skillful player," said Hesson while replying to an ANI query during a virtual press conference.
RCB did manage to bag all-rounder Glenn Maxwell for a whopping Rs 14.25 crore. Talking about Maxwell, Hesson said: "Often Maxwell has been used in a finisher role, he is a multi-skilled player and he can bowl off-spin as well. It depends on what the team wants, we all look at how to bring the best out of him. We were after the X factor player and we got that in form of Maxwell."
South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris has become the most expensive foreign player in the history of the IPL as he was picked up by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 16.25 crore.
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan on Thursday was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the ongoing IPL mini-auction. Shakib had his base price as Rs 2 crore, but both Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Punjab Kings made bids for him, and in the end, the Bangladesh all-rounder was sold to KKR for Rs 3.2 crore.
All-rounder Kedar Jadhav went unsold in the auction. England's all-rounder Moeen Ali was picked by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for Rs 7 crore.
The IPL "mini-auction" this year has 291 players going under the hammer as England pacer Mark Wood withdrew from the auction at the end moment.
All these cricketers have been shortlisted by the eight franchises. A total of 164 Indian players, 125 overseas players and 3 players from associate nations are up for grabs in the mini-auction. (ANI)