‘They got him at a very big discount’ – Former South African captain praises RCB for Venkatesh Iyer’s signing ahead of IPL 2026

Former South African captain AB de Villiers believes that Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) did a great job in the IPL 2026 mini-auction, roping in star all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer for INR 7 crore. The Madhya Pradesh cricketer was released by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of the auction after failing to live up to his price tag of INR 23.75 crore in IPL 2025. De Villiers stated that RCB acquired his services at a discounted price.

The 41-year-old also praised the RCB think tank for some of their other signings, including Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, and Jacob Duffy. However, the cricketer-turned-expert feels that RCB missed a trick by not roping in a leg-spinner to their setup.

“There was no panic at the auction and no surprise with it. They are the defending champions, and there’s reason for that, and you don’t want to change the winning recipe. Jordan Cox is a good signing. Bit of a backup. I don’t know how much he will play but a very talented youngster. Venki Iyer is the big signing. They got him at a very big discount,” he said on his YouTube channel.

“The main one I want to talk about is Mangesh Yadav. Backup for Yash Dayal, maybe he will be more than a backup. Also Jacob Duffy was a nice backup for Hazlewood. It is a championship winning squad. Maybe a little bit lacking in the X factor spin department. Would have been nice to see another wrist-spinner. But I feel RCB have a chance to defend the title,” he added.

RCB ended their title drought last season after defeating Punjab Kings (PBKS) in a pulsating final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Coming back to Venkatesh’s signing, it will be interesting to see where the 30-year-old bats in the upcoming season. He batted in the top order for KKR. However, during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025, he started batting down the order at numbers five and six before opening the batting in Madhya Pradesh’s last three games in the campaign.