After acquiring Will Jacks at the IPL 2025 auction, Mumbai Indians co-owner Akash Ambani walked up shake hands with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru team personnel.
A much sought-after cricketer in franchise leagues around the world, Jacks has 4,847 T20 runs at a strike rate of 158. He has already hit four hundreds in the format.
Jacks played eight matches for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2024, his first IPL season. He made 230 runs at a strike rate of 176, the highlight of which was a stunning 41-ball 100 not out against the Gujarat Titans at Ahmedabad, an innings where he hit 10 boundaries off the last 12 balls.
Follow the IPL 2025 auction live blog here.
Naturally, he was expected to go for big money at the 2025 edition. He set himself a base price at INR 2 crore. Punjab Kings opened the bidding at 2.2 crore, while Mumbai Indians joined in soon. Frantic bidding ensued, and Jacks’ price soon soared to INR 5.25 crore. At this point Punjab backed out.
The RCB came into the 2025 auction with three Right to Match (RTM) cards, of which they had two left after using one on Swapnil Singh. However, they chose not to use another RTM on Jacks.
After 12 overs, RCB needed 78 more runs to win. Kohli was on 63* (38), Jacks on 29* (22).
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) April 28, 2024
After 16 overs, the game was done. Kohli finished on 70* (44), Jacks on 100* (41).
Outrageous hitting from the Englishman, including seven sixes off his last 11 deliveries 🤯#IPL2024 pic.twitter.com/RaIwJfTpfJ
However, the RCB abstained from using the card. This prompted Akash Ambani, the visibly pleased MI co-owner, to leave the franchise table, walk up, and shake hands with the RCB team camp.
Jacks is set to join #MI as #RCB opts not to use the RTM option!
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) November 25, 2024
Keep watching the #IPLAuction LIVE on #JioCinema & #StarSports 👇🏻https://t.co/nuBiKyfyEh#TATAIPL #IPLAuctiononJioStar #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/ImhrAVBZki
It is not very clear why RCB chose to not use an RTM on Jacks. “For Mumbai Indians, it’s just a bonus,” explained Mike Hesson, former director of cricket at the RCB on the official live streaming channel. “They wanted him. They saw how well he did in South Africa, he’s always scored runs against them. They were thinking how far we could go once RCB [used the RTM card]. The fact that they didn’t, left RCB from the top-order point of view a little bit exposed.”
It sparked plenty of reactions on social media:
RCB are truly crazy. So much so that Akash Ambani went and gave them a handshake for not RTM-ing Will Jacks.#IPLAuction2025 pic.twitter.com/kHraVvCuFf
— Rohit Sankar (@imRohit_SN) November 25, 2024
What was that? Will Jacks being let go by Royal Challengers Bengaluru and the MI owner walking up to the RCB table for a handshake... #IPLAuction
— Amol Karhadkar (@karhacter) November 25, 2024
What's this handshake between Aakash Ambani and RCB management? Bro thanked them after getting Will Jacks pic.twitter.com/4IDgOOx6uL
— Heisenberg ☢ (@internetumpire) November 25, 2024
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