IPL 2019: Three players RCB regret signing/releasing ahead of this season

The Indian Premier League is about to enter the playoffs stage after an enthralling 56 games in the group stage. There were many thrills and surprises in store for the fans and one happy one was for the fans of the Delhi Capitals, who made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

The teams will also start to know the results of their exploits at the auction and whether the deals have paid off or not. A few have been great while few have been receiving the flak. Players like Jonny Bairstow and Shikhar Dhawan have proved to be fruitful acquisitions for their sides.

Of the teams participating in the league, RCB had the worst season as they were the first team to be knocked out of the tournament. Their fans were let down and the expectations from fans will be pretty low considering that the side hasn't made it to the playoffs for three seasons in a row now.

Few of their decisions at the auction, team selections and questions over Virat Kohli's captaincy have come up and the team management must iron their brains to figure out what went wrong.

On that note, let's take a look at 3 players who RCB either regret signing or releasing ahead of this season.

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#3 Sarfaraz Khan (Released)- Kings XI Punjab

Sarfaraz did a great job in the opportunities provided to him. (Image Courtesy: IPLT20)

Sarfaraz Khan attracted a lot of attention last season when he was one of three players retained by RCB ahead of the mega-auction last season. With the team having that much confidence in him, it was a surprise to see him let go ahead of this season after spending most of the season warming the bench.

He could manage only 51 runs in the 7 matches he played of which he got a batting chance only in 5 matches. While his stats were poor, they were so because he never got the time to settle down and often came in the last over where it was "hit out or get out". RCB releasing him seemed appropriate at the time but there may be a little regret right now.

Sarfaraz was backed by R Ashwin and co. at Kings XI Punjab where he found a spot in the middle order and scored 180 runs in 6 innings at a good strike-rate and played a mature and responsible hand in most of the games. He was however dropped for the sake of maintaining team balance and the momentum which he gained was lost.

RCB could've used a player who plays the unconventional shots while soaking up the pressure while batting at the middle order. They have been forced to play overseas players who have failed to deliver in the middle order and letting Sarfaraz go seems to be a wrong call.

While letting Sarfaraz Khan go won't be the biggest regret which RCB will have, seeing him perform well in an important role for another team would have made them think that they should have trusted his abilities more.

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#2 Shimron Hetmyer - Signed for ₹4.2 Crore

Hetmyer has had a poor start to the season. (Image Courtesy: IPLT20)

RCB have been the team which has made the most tactical blunders and another one which has come back to hurt them is the signing of Shimron Hetmyer at the IPL Auction ahead of this season. Everyone thought that RCB had upped their game at the auction but their errors are now on display to the world as Hetmyer has disappointed big-time.

The first signs of uncertainty came when his prosperous bidding war ended at ₹4.2 crore, a price seemingly less than what a player like him would fetch at the auction. Nevertheless, he continued to play well for his country but on his IPL debut against CSK, he was run out for a duck.

His poor run of form continued as he scored just 15 runs from 4 games at a dismal strike-rate of 57 and has been dropped from the side. A lot was expected of him and his failure means that RCB need to look for other options to bolster their batting which isn't easy halfway into the tournament.

Their batting looks strong without him and they could've gone for a death bowling specialist or a keeper-batsman like Bairstow rather going for Hetmyer.

No one expected him to fail but buying Hetmyer will be RCB's biggest regret this season.

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#1 Shivam Dube - Signed for ₹5 Crore

Shivam Dube had a pretty paltry outing in IPL 2019. (Image Courtesy: IPLT20)

Shivam Dube was RCB's most expensive signing at the IPL Auction 2019 and his performances have been far from impressive and dropping him was he only solution though this disrupted the team balance. The hard-hitting Mumbai all-rounder managed to make just 40 runs from 4 innings and let the team down in many key situations.

His presence in the middle order would have given stability to the side and his finishing skills could have helped the side on many occasions. He also blanked with the ball and didn't get any opportunities to bowl his right-arm medium fast bowling.

RCB's prized buy blew back on them and a bid of 5 crore for a pretty inexperienced player has resulted in their downfall as they didn't have the funds to buy other necessary players.

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