‘Delighted’ – RCB director Mo Bobat after acquiring Alzarri Joseph’s services

Mo Bobat (Photo Source: Twitter)

Mo Bobat, the director of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), expressed his delight after the franchise secured the services of Alzarri Joseph during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction in Dubai on December 19. The West Indies speedster was acquired by the three-time IPL finalists for a significant sum of INR 11.50 crore in the auction.

Bobat mentioned that the 27-year-old was among the franchise’s top three targets in the ongoing auction, and he believes that bringing him on board was a wise call. He further highlighted Joseph’s ability to bowl at high speeds and his high release point, which results in valuable bounce, especially crucial at RCB’s home stadium in Bengaluru.

“We’re delighted to have Alzarri [Joseph]. From our perspective, he was in our top three targets. From an overseas pace bowling perspective, you’re always trying to navigate through the auction order, which makes things slightly tricky. We made a good judgment call, I think, to bring forward our interest in Alzarri and to have a good go at him because he’s a player that we really like now with Alzarri, he bowls at high pace, he’s got a high release point, so he gets bounce. We know bounce is important at the Chinnaswamy (Stadium). He’s also got fantastic death skills,” Mo Bobat said on Star Sports.

Bobat additionally discussed Alzarri Joseph‘s ability to pose a threat to opposition batters at the death. He further elaborated on the reasons behind signing Yash Dayal. The left-arm fast-medium bowler was roped in by INR 5 crore.

“You look at his record and he’s stacks up against anyone at the death. He’s also someone that’s playing regular international cricket all around the world and franchise all around the world. So he’s someone that can adapt to conditions and surfaces. And he’s someone also that the captain knows really well. So Faf [du Plessis] and him have a really good relationship and they’ve got a real trusted dynamic between them.

So for us, it ticks a lot of boxes with Yash Dayal, obviously a slightly different pick in that sense. We like the left-arm angle, we like the fact that he moves the ball up front. We want to make sure we’ve got the right battery of bowlers domestically that can supplement the likes of Alzarri,” Bobat added.

We think we’ve got a really nice balanced attack with real variety: Bobat

Mo Bobat further emphasised that RCB believe they have formed a well-balanced attack for the upcoming IPL season while also mentioning the acquisition of Cameron Green. The star Australian all-rounder was traded to RCB from Mumbai Indians for INR 17.5 crore to fortify their middle order.

“Obviously, we’ve got Cameron Green as well. So we think we’ve got a really nice balanced attack with real variety. And we want to make sure that we have got variety whenever we step out on the field from a pace bowling perspective. So we’ve got enough bounce, we’ve got enough pace, we’ve got [Mohammed] Siraj, who’s a champion swing bowler, up front, and we’ve got a left arm angle. So it’s us putting together our arsenal to take on the opposition,” Bobat concluded.