3 reasons why Alzarri Joseph at ₹11.50 crore is a bad signing for RCB in IPL 2024

Alzarri Joseph has been signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for a whopping ₹11.50 crore. The West Indian pacer has previously represented both the Mumbai Indians (MI) and Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL.

RCB released Josh Hazlewood, Harshal Patel, and Wanindu Hasaranga, all of whom had performed well in the past few seasons. With only Mohammad Siraj as an experienced international-level bowler in their ranks, the Bangalore-based outfit were expected to target bowlers in the auction.

However, as they traded in Cameron Green from MI for an all-cash deal of ₹17.50 crore, they just had a budget of ₹23.25 crore to start the day with. They ended up spending around half that amount on Alzarri Joseph.

Here are three reasons why Joseph is not a good purchase at that price:

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#1 Alzarri Joseph is too expensive

Alzarri Joseph, at ₹11.50 crore, is one of the most overpriced deals of the IPL 2024 auction. He was bought for just ₹2.40 crore by GT in the IPL 2022 auction, although it was a mega auction. Considering it is a mega auction this time, he should have gone for around ₹5–6 crore.

The 27-year-old has had a decent IPL career so far, but nothing extraordinary. A fee upwards of ₹10 crore is only justified if the player is a proven match winner. With other players who have performed better recently going for cheaper, this has to be one of the worst signings of the ongoing auction.

Alzarri Joseph has picked up 20 wickets in 19 IPL matches in his career. The lanky pacer has a career economy rate of 9.19, despite playing for franchises like MI and GT, which have some of the best bowling units. The Antiguan could struggle at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

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#2 Better pacers were sold for cheaper

Gerald Coetzee and Dilshan Madushanka were both snapped up by MI for relatively cheap prices of ₹5 crore and ₹4.6 crore, respectively. They both are coming into the IPL 2024 auction on the back of spectacular performances in the 2023 World Cup.

Coetzee (20 wickets) and Madushanka (21 wickets) were easily their respective teams' best bowlers at the quadrennial tournament. They were among the top five leading wicket-takers at the tournament. Moreover, at just 23-years-old, they both are younger than Joseph and have a higher ceiling than him.

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#3 RCB potentially have a weak bowling unit

RCB had once put together a very good set of bowlers in the form of Siraj, Hazlewood, Harshal, and Hasaranga. However, they let three of them go. RCB's main target was Pat Cummins, and after they could not afford him, it is likely that they panicked and paid extra for Joseph, which happens due to the auction dynamics.

Hasaranga was bought by SRH at a bargain price of ₹1.5 crore, while Hazlewood went unsold, perhaps as he is set to miss a good chunk of the IPL 2024 season. With Topley in their ranks, RCB could have bought Hazlewood at base price and used Topley until the Australian was available.

Other bowlers like Lockie Ferguson (unsold) and Chetan Sakariya (KKR at ₹50 lakh) were also good options that RCB could have considered. With only a handful of quality bowlers still to come, RCB will find it hard to build a strong bowling unit as they don't have enough budget after splurging ₹11.50 crore on Alzarri Joseph.