I called, he was angry, didn't speak properly...', RCB's big explanation for not retaining Chahal

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Yuzvendra Chahal, RCB : Royal Challengers Bangalore did not retain spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in IPL 2022 and sent him to the mega auction. This is the most shocking decision ever. Because Chahal is India's most successful bowler in IPL and T20I cricket. No one has ever given any explanation as to why RCB did this. But before IPL 2024, RCB's former cricket director Mike Hesson has made many revelations about this. He said, “A personal call was made to Chahal to explain the reason behind his release. He was upset and not interested in the conversation.”

When I called Chahal he was upset - Mike Hesson

Hesson said, “We wanted to bid big and buy Chahal at the auction. I know that because I was with the team in all this planning. I remember when I called Chahal later, he was upset. Trying to explain the auction dynamics to him at that time was very difficult. Chahal was very sad and it is natural to do so. He was one of RCB's most important players and was not retained. But I can assure everyone that they were well aware of the problems we were facing at that time."

Despite being one of the best players, did not make it to the list of marquee players

Hesson continued, “I spoke to Chahal when we did the initial retention and we only retained three players because we felt we wanted to try to buy back both Harshal Patel and Chahal in the auction. But the mega auction made the matter a bit complicated. Despite being one of the best players in the IPL, he did not make it to the list of marquee players. His name came in the auction after 64 players. That meant it was really hard for us to guarantee whether we would buy it or not. This is why RCB bought Harshal, but Chahal was bought by Rajasthan Royals. In his place, RCB included Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga in their squad."