4. ANIKET CHOUDHARY (Rs 2 crore, Royal Challengers Bangalore)
The 27-year-old Rajasthan seam bowler was purchased by RCB from a base price of 10 lakh, adding to the squad’s increased pace stocks. The franchise was already on the look-out for pace bowlers having released seven in Varun Aaron, Abu Nechim, David Wiese, Kane Richardson, Vikramjeet Malik, Praveen Dubey and Jordan, and with news that Mitchell Starc had pulled out of the 2017 IPL, RCB’s needs were amplified. In Choudhary, they have an in-form option to fall back on. He took 21 wickets in Rajasthan’s Ranji Trophy campaign, five in three Syed Mushtaq Ali matches, then 4/26 for India A against Bangladesh, and most recently six in four matches of the Inter State Twenty20 Tournament.
