Royal Challengers Bangalore rookie Anuj Rawat admitted it was a dream come true for him after he was picked by the franchise in the IPL 2022 mega auction. Rawat had set his base price at INR 20 lakhs however he was able to fetch INR 3.40 crores after a bidding war between RCB, Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Rawat played two matches for Rajasthan Royals in the previous season. The left-hander from Uttarakhand didn’t get to bat in his debut match against Sunrisers Hyderabad while he was dismissed for a golden duck against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Rawat will now look to grab his opportunity for RCB in the upcoming season and deliver the goods for the Faf du Plessis-led team. The southpaw also admitted that he wasn’t expecting to go for such a hefty amount in the auction.
“Playing for such a big franchise, it’s been a dream come true for me. This is one of the franchises I’ve been looking forward to playing for since I started playing cricket and watching the IPL. It feels great to be a part of Royal Challengers Bangalore and I’m very happy to be here.”
He continued: “I was expecting me to be picked by some of the franchise but I wasn’t expecting this much of amount.”
Meanwhile, Rawat had a good run in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as he scored 167 runs in five innings for Delhi at an average of 33.40 and a strike rate of 128.46.
“They have been watching me for a couple of years before and after the T20 tournament (SMAT), RCB had asked me about my batting and keeping videos and now they’ve picked me and I’m so happy to be a part of it.” revealed Rawat.
The 22-year old youngster is also looking forward to playing with Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis and learn from the best in the business.
“There are many players I’ve played with before like Shahbaz I’ve played with him before and many of them. So, yeah, they are such big players and I wanted to learn from them, wanted to play along with them. Let’s hope for the best and let’s enjoy the journey.”
RCB will begin their IPL 2022 campaign on March 27 against Punjab Kings at the DY Patil stadium in Mumbai.
