One of the biggest shocks before the retained players list was announced by all teams ahead of the IPL Mega Auction 2022 was that Yuzvendra Chahal was let go by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
Chahal, in the past, had said that he never sees him playing for any other franchise as RCB is where he has played most of his cricket and is emotionally attached to the franchise.
However, one phone call from RCB's Director of Cricket Mike Hesson changed everything.
In an interview to a news publication, Chahal has said that he was never asked whether he wants to be retained, he was just informed over a phone call that his name was not there in the name of retentions.
“They didn’t ask me whether I wanted to be retained or tell me if they wanted to retain me. They just talked about the three retentions and I was told that – ‘we will go for you in the auction’. Neither was I asked about money nor did I get any offer of retention. But I will always be loyal to my Bangalore fans. I love them so much, no matter what,” Chahal said while speaking to Times of India.
The 31-year-old cricketer also said that he has been accused of asking for more money from RCB and that this is the reason why he was not retained. Chahal says that all of this is untrue.
"I am emotionally attached to RCB. I never thought I would play for some other team. People and fans on social media are still asking me ‘why did you ask for this much money?’. The reality is that Mike Hesson (RCB Director of Cricket) called me and said ‘Listen Yuzi, there are three retentions’ (Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj)."
