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Former Indian all-rounder and commentator Irfan Pathan has revealed two players the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru could release ahead of the much-awaited IPL 2026 mini-auction, scheduled to take place next month.
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Speaking on his YouTube channel, Pathan asserted that though the RCB franchise looks like a settled unit, they might look at releasing the English all-rounder Liam Livingstone, as he had a mediocre season with the bat and the ball in the IPL 2025 season.
Speaking about his stats in IPL 2025, Livingstone could score only 112 runs from eight innings at an average of 16 with one half-century. With the ball, he could scalp only two wickets from five innings.
"RCB is a very settled unit. If you see the XI that played the final, 8 of them had won the Player of the Match awards. They were quite consistent. Those players will again be in focus. Liam Livingstone will be a talking point. RCB spent ₹8.75 crore on him, but he made only 112 runs and his strike rate was 133, as more is expected of him. He bowled nine overs with the ball. He did score 25 off 15 balls in the final,” Irfan Pathan said on his YouTube channel.
But if you see RCB’s overseas players, they are quite settled. Breaking into the XI will be hard because there are Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Josh Hazlewood, and Phil Salt. All four are potent. It won’t be a bad option to keep Livingstone in the auction and see what happens,” he added.
Additionally, Pathan also felt that RCB might look to release their young pacer Rasikh Salam Dar, who was roped in by 6 crore, but could scalp only one wicket from two games. The former cricketer also felt that Bengaluru think tank team would be eager to purchase the young pacer in the mini-auction after releasing him.
"Eyes will also be on Rasikh Salam. He was bought for ₹6 crore but didn’t perform that well. He is a good bowler and RCB needs a bowler, who can bowl those back-of-the hand slower balls. But RCB will be thinking if they can put him in the auction and buy him again at a lesser price. If these two are released, RCB have an extra purse amount of ₹15 crore," the former all-rounder concluded.
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