Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are all set to retain former captain Virat Kohli and Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, ahead of the mega auction next year, sources in the know of the developments informed NDTV. All the eight existing teams have time till November 30 to announce the list of players they would retain. These teams will be allowed to retain a maximum of 4 players. Two of the retained names can be of overseas players.

According to a report on ESPNCricinfo, the teams are likely to get a purse of Rs 90 crore in the upcoming IPL auction.

The report further stated that the two new franchises – Lucknow and Ahmedabad, can pick three players before the auction after the retentions are over. The combination for these two teams would be two Indians and one overseas player.

Promoted

Virat Kohli had decided to step down from the captaincy of the franchise after the end of IPL 2021. RCB will also be without talismanic South African batter AB de Villiers from the next season, as he announced his retirement from all cricket a few days back.

Kohli has been the highest run getter in the history of the franchise and IPL and he is expected to play a big role in the future as well, but not as captain. Glenn Maxwell was the star performer for RCB in IPL 2021, as he finished 5th on the run-scoring charts for the season, with 513 runs. His ability to bowl effective off-spin and electric fielding abilities mean RCB value him and might not want to run the risk of picking him up again in the auction.