Former South African captain AB de Villiers believes Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) did an excellent job in the IPL 2026 mini-auction by signing star all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer for INR 7 crore. The Madhya Pradesh cricketer was dismissed by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) prior to the auction after failing to meet his INR 23.75 crore price tag in IPL 2025. De Villiers alleged that RCB purchased his services at a discount.
The 41-year-old also praised the RCB think tank’s other signings, which include Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, and Jacob Duffy.
However, the cricketer-turned-expert believes that RCB lost a trick by not including a leg-spinner in their lineup.
“There was no panic at the auction and no surprise with it. They are the defending champions, and there’s reason for that, and you don’t want to change the winning recipe. Jordan Cox is a good signing. Bit of a backup. I don’t know how much he will play but a very talented youngster. Venki Iyer is the big signing. They got him at a very big discount,” he said on his YouTube channel.
“The main one I want to talk about is Mangesh Yadav. Backup for Yash Dayal, maybe he will be more than a backup. Also Jacob Duffy was a nice backup for Hazlewood. It is a championship winning squad. Maybe a little bit lacking in the X factor spin department. Would have been nice to see another wrist-spinner. But I feel RCB have a chance to defend the title,” he added.
RCB ended their title drought last season after defeating Punjab Kings (PBKS) in a pulsating final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Coming back to Venkatesh’s signing, it will be interesting to see where the 30-year-old bats in the upcoming season. He batted in the top order for KKR. However, during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025, he started batting down the order at numbers five and six before opening the batting in Madhya Pradesh’s last three games in the campaign.
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