The Royal Challengers Bengaluru made headlines by releasing a significant portion of their squad to create options for some new talent for the 2024 IPL season. The decision to release a lot of players was to focus on rebuilding their bowling department while retaining the core batting strength. The fans are anxious to know how many players were released and on what reasons.
We will discuss all the detailed information about the RCB released players 2024 list and the reasons for the release.
RCB Plans to Released Players in 2024
RCB has released 11 players for the 2024 season, many of whom were very talented in terms of bowling and batting. A significant number of players released were from the bowling department. Some of the most notable names in the list were Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Josh Hazlewood, and David Willey. Such players were very significant in tough matches and death overs. The release of these players came as a shock to RCB fans.
RCB Released Players 2024: Lists
| Player | Role | Matches | Runs | Batting Avg / SR | Wickets | Economy |
| Harshal Patel | Bowler | 13 | 25 | – | 14 | 9.6 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | All-rounder | 8 | 30 | 10 / 100 | 9 | 8.8 |
| Josh Hazlewood | Bowler | 3 | 2 | – | 3 | 8.4 |
| David Willey | Bowler | 4 | 28 | 14 / 124 | 3 | 8 |
| Wayne Parnell | All-rounder | 7 | 30 | 10 / 103 | 9 | 9.2 |
| Michael Bracewell | All-rounder | 5 | 58 | 14.5 / 133 | 6 | 8.6 |
| Shahbaz Ahmed | All-rounder | 10 | 42 | 6 / 107 | 2 | 9.3 |
| Kedar Jadhav | Batter | 2 | 20 | 10 / 125 | – | – |
| Finn Allen | Keeper-Batter | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| Sonu Yadav | Bowler | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| Avinash Singh | Bowler | 0 | – | – | – | – |
Released Players Performance Analysis
- Hasaranga enjoyed a solid 2023 season, claiming a few key wickets, but he also struggled with consistency and missed some of those opportunities due to injury.
- Harshal Patel did not replicate his early season form, unfortunately, he was too often expensive in tight games, leading to difficulty for RCB.
- Josh Hazlewood had fitness issues, missing several matches, and did not regularly return to form.
- Finn Allen and Kedar Jadhav simply did not get enough opportunities to solidify a place in the starting XI.
- Wayne Parnell and David Willey were frequently swapped in and out of the line-up, and just did not often have a significant impact.
Why is releasing Players in a Season Important for any Team?
Establish Squad Flexibility: Allows you to optimise the team based on player performance, fitness, and strategies for the game.
Refresh and Rebalance: Repairs gaps in areas such as bowling, batting, or fielding abilities.
Manage Salary Cap: Provides monetary opportunity to recruit better or higher-priced players.
Encourage Competition: Motivates all players to continuously work hard for a continuing place in the team.
Promote Emerging Talent: Gives chances to up-and-coming young players who have not been selected before.
Manage Injuries/Availability: Allows you to present a strong team even if some players are injured or unavailable.
Reasons: Why Did RCB Let Go of These Players?
The RCB management made a clever decision to part with several veteran bowlers and all-rounders to free up some salary cap space. It is reported that they freed around ₹30 crore of cap space in doing so. Since RCB did not make the playoffs last year, decisions like this are likely to happen, especially with their bowling attack, which did not provide a strong enough performance.
Eventually, RCB is showing faith in their retained players, especially the batters. This auction and retention was a part to allow the team to let some new faces shine in the game. This was done to balance down and clear the path for new talents, which can become an asset for the upcoming IPL seasons.
Impact of the Releases
The decision to release so many bowlers just before the start of the 2024 IPL season has definitely impacted the RCB’s performance. When they started playing in the season, the start was very slow and difficult. Since the team lacked bowlers, it weakened their performance initially. Nevertheless, the team performed really well with their strong batting lineup and new bowlers like Yash Dayal. They won six straight matches to qualify for the playoffs. It was Virat Kohli who stood by the team with his ever impressive batting skills. They demonstrated the ability to adjust and compete in spite of difficult changes, even if they were ousted in the playoffs. The layoffs pushed RCB to rebuild and explore new team arrangements, which creates promise for the future.
List of RBC Retained Players 2024
This is the list of players who were retained in the 2024 IPL season and were the hope for their first win of the title:
| Player | Role | Price |
| Faf du Plessis | Batter | 7 crore |
| Virat Kohli | Batter | 15 crore |
| Glenn Maxwell | All-rounder | 11 crore |
| Mohammed Siraj | Bowler | 7 crore |
| Dinesh Karthik | Keeper-Batter | 5.5 crore |
| Vyshak Vijaykumar | Bowler | 20 lakh |
| Manoj Bhandage | All-rounder | 20 lakh |
| Rajat Patidar | Batter | 20 lakh |
| Anuj Rawat | Keeper-batter | 3.4 crore |
| Suyash Prabhudessai | All-rounder | 30 lakh |
| Akash Deep | Bowler | 20 lakh |
| Reece Topley | Bowler | 1.9 crore |
| Rajan Kumar | Bowler | 70 lakh |
| Himanshu Sharma | All-rounder | 20 lakh |
| Karn Sharma | Bowler | 50 lakh |
| Mahipal Lomror | Batter | 95 lakh |
| Will Jacks | All-rounder | 3.2 crore |
| Cameron Green | All-rounder | 17.5 crore |
Social Media and Fan Reactions
The release of so many big players like Hasaranga and Harsha Patel created a lot of buzz among RCB fans. There were so many mixed reactions received from their fans, while some appreciated this decision, others criticised this decision. Fans were concerned about the bowling units and worried for the inexperienced players retained. While some shows happiness to see the new faces in their team. But overall excitement and love were received by the team, especially because of their star player, Virat Kohli. He is not just a powerful player for RCB, but also an emotion for RCB fans.
What’s Next? RCB’s Strategy and Vision
The evolution of the franchise is obvious trusting its batting core and essentially starting again with the bowling. This approach conforms with recent IPL trends that prefer teams to make squad based decisions. The way they are keeping guys and dumping others is consistent with teams that have been successful in the IPL, where they are combining big names with players who will perform well in specific matches.
Final Takeaways
In summary, before the 2024 IPL season, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru made a lot of changes when they dismissed 11 players from the squad, the majority of whom were players from the bowling department, to make way for a number of players to join the team. The retention plan was done to improve their bowling lineup while showing full confidence in the powerful batters. These changes came as a challenge for the team, but players like Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, and some young talents came as a hope for the team. The blog clearly tells you the reasons why the retention was made and demonstrates RCB’s strategy to win their first IPL title. Fans are excited and anxious to look forward to what this decision will impact in the upcoming season and how the retained players will play in the near future.
