Here's why RCB didn't pick up Steve Smith...

Weren't looking at Steve Smith as an opening batsman, says RCB's Hesson

Royal Challengers Bangalore's Director of Cricket, Mike Hesson, on Thursday, clarified that the franchise was not looking to rope in Australia's Steve Smith as an opening batsman.

Smith had a base price of Rs 2 crore heading into the auction and RCB made the starting bid for him, but in the end, Smith was picked up by Delhi Capitals for Rs 2.2 crore.

"No, we were not looking at Steve Smith as an opening batsman. We felt we needed somebody in the first group to be sold and in terms of taking a batting spot up, if we got Steve Smith at 2 crore, we would have been very happy and we would have been able to use him at multiple roles, he is a skillful player," said Hesson while replying to a query during a virtual press conference.

RCB did manage to bag all-rounder Glenn Maxwell for a whopping Rs 14.25 crore. Talking about Maxwell, Hesson said: "Often Maxwell has been used in a finisher role, he is a multi-skilled player and he can bowl off-spin as well. It depends on what the team wants, we all look at how to bring the best out of him. We were after the X factor player and we got that in form of Maxwell.