Aakash Chopra predicts Virat Kohli and co. would go for THIS KXIP player in IPL auction

The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) franchise retained as many as 12 cricketers, including captain Virat Kohli, for the upcoming Indian Premier League 2021 (IPL 2021) season. They also retained star attractions AB de Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal and Adam Zampa ahead of the 2021 IPL auction. On the other hand, the RCB franchise ended contracts of 10 of their players, including T20 giants Aaron Finch, Chris Morris and Moeen Ali.

BCCI confirms IPL auction date

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Aakash Chopra believes RCB should go for Karun Nair at the auction

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra recently took to his YouTube channel to give his take on RCB’s potential IPL auction strategy. Emphasising on the fact that they are now left with just three Indian batsmen (Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal and Pavan Deshpande) in their line-up, Chopra believes that the franchise might go for Karnataka bastman Karun Nair at the bidding event. Nair was previously part of the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) camp between 2018 and 2020, before the franchise released him ahead of the IPL auction.

Aakash Chopra was of the opinion that Karun Nair might get a good contract from his 'home' franchise RCB at the auction since there are not many Indian batsmen in their camp. According to Chopra, the 29-year-old Nair can provide some solidity in the RCB’s middle-order. The cricketer-turned-commentator believes that the ex-KXIP player can also attract attention from the CSK camp at the auction, because they also do not have enough Indian batters in their line-up.

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Aakash Chopra talks about RCB’s potential strategy and Karun Nair’s fate, watch video

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IPL 2021 updates

The IPL 2021 season is reported to commence in the second week of April, i.e. just after the conclusion of India’s home series against England. However, an official announcement is yet to be made by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) regarding its entire itinerary. The 2021 IPL auction will be held on February 18 in Chennai.

RCB list of retained players 2021

Apart from the heavyweights, the RCB franchise also retained Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar and Navdeep Saini. The three aforementioned cricketers recently starred in India’s memorable Test series win in Australia, even though it was the first Test assignments of their respective careers. Here is a look at the entire list of RCB retentions for the 2021 season.

A look into RCB list of retained players 2021

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Image source: Aakash Chopra Twitter and IPLT20.COM