Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) ended 18 years of wait to clinch the Indian Premier League (IPL) title for the first time in its history in 2025. The success came in the first season of the latest three-year cycle of the IPL, following the mega auction. While RCB made significant purchases like pacers Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and overseas opener Phil Salt in the auction, they also let go of household names like all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and fan-favourite pacer Mohammed Siraj. Now, however, RCB's director of cricket Mo Bobat has revealed the thought process behind letting Siraj go.
"Siraj is probably the player that we spent the longest deliberating over," said Bobat in an interview with Cricbuzz.
Siraj spent seven years at RCB, picking up 99 wickets across 102 matches for the franchise. However, the 31-year-old wasn't retained ahead of IPL 2025.
"Indian international bowlers aren't that easy to get. We spent a lot of time weighing up whether we wanted to retain him, release him, would we consider trying to go back for him at the auction, is he a Right To Match? We discussed every eventuality with him," Bobat revealed.
RCB ultimately got Australian speedster Hazlewood for Rs 12.50 crore and veteran Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar for Rs 10.75 crore. Siraj ended up going to Gujarat Titans (GT) for Rs 12.25 crore.
Bobat explained that it was the versatility of Bhuvneshwar that saw RCB prefer him over Siraj.
"We were keen to try and get Bhuvi (for two ends of the innings) and we felt like hanging on to Siraj would make it difficult to get Bhuvi, so that was something that we thought about as well. A number of things come into it, it's never just one reason," Bobat reasoned.
Siraj had an excellent start to the season, but ultimately ended up with 16 wickets in 15 matches in IPL 2025.
Bhuvneshwar, on the other hand, picked up 17 wickets by the end, playing a crucial role in RCB's title success. Hazlewood was arguably the best bowler of the tournament, picking up 22 wickets in just 12 matches at an economy rate of under 9.
Bobat also revealed that Australian all-rounder Cameron Green's long-term injury was the sole reason for not retaining him.
"Had he been fit, we would almost certainly have retained Cameron Green," Bobat said.
Green is expected to be one of the star attractions in the mini-auction for IPL 2026.