Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had to take some tough decisions while choosing their set of retained players ahead of the Indian Premier League 2026 auction. The biggest name they had to leave out was the all-rounder liam livingstone, The English cricketer could not make any meaningful contribution during the 2025 season and failed to justify his hefty price tag of Rs 8.75 crore.
Former RCB and India great Anil Kumble believes that the franchise ultimately made the right decision, as the performance on the field did not reflect the promise that they had shown when they were first selected in the squad for the 2025 season. Kumble, who spent time with Livingstone at the Punjab Kings in 2022, says the all-rounder remains a game-changer, and is likely to command a hefty bid in 2026 as well.
Kumble said via JioStar, “Releases are always difficult decisions. Liam Livingstone is someone I enjoyed working with and he has done extremely well for Punjab in IPL 2022, which is probably their best IPL season. He can single-handedly change the game in a few overs with his powerful batting. What makes him special is the flexibility of his bowling; he bowls leg spin for right-handed batsmen and off-spin for left-handed batsmen. He bowls spin and is also a good fielder, which makes him a complete package.”
RCB will have to find backup for Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood: Anil Kumble
Analyzing RCB's retained players further, Kumble believes that while the defending champions' core is set to perform well in 2026, they still need to make some additions. The bulk of the bowling workload in 2025 was handled by Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal, and Kumble wants RCB to pick good backup options for these fast bowlers at the auction table for the 2026 season.
“Unfortunately, he did not have a good IPL season for RCB last year and also missed selection for England. Otherwise, I am sure other franchises would be interested in him. His high price was probably a factor in the release. RCB had to look into their main bowling attack Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh HazlewoodThe need for bowling depth could be another reason behind this difficult decision,” he added,
For those unaware, the IPL 2026 auction is scheduled to take place on December 16, 2025, at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. RCB will enter the competition with a purse money of just over Rs 16 crore. As a result, it will be interesting to see what kind of combination the Rajat Patidar-led team finalizes for the upcoming edition of the cash-rich tournament.
Get every cricket update! Follow us,
Leave a Reply