Pretty much everything and the bungling had started much before crisp collars and sharp suits assembled in Bengaluru’s Ritz-Carlton for the mega auction on the last weekend of January. Sarfaraz Khan, a doubtlessly prodigious age-group cricketer but with little to show for in Twenty20 cricket, was retained pre-auction, and KL Rahul, good enough to score international hundreds in all three formats, was duly dispensed with.

The elegant right-hander was RCB’s third-highest run-getter in 2016 and had missed the 2017 edition due to a shoulder injury after acing the tough home series against Australia earlier that year. Letting him go was a surprise, and the fact that RCB didn’t once bid for him in auction confirmed that they were certain to look beyond him, which was a surprise, considering his well-documented talent to score quickly and correctly.

Rahul triggered a fierce bidding war between Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Kings XI Punjab, and was ultimately taken by Punjab at 5.5 times his base price of Rs. 2 crore. He justified his price with 659 runs from 14 matches, ending IPL 2018 as third-highest scorer..