Mumbai Indians' owner Akash Ambani was seen shaking hands with Royal Challengers Bengaluru's CEO after he refused to extend the Right-to-match option for all-rounder Will Jacks in the ongoing IPL 2025 auction at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. A video of the same surfaced on social media as the user posting the video called the franchise a fixing team.
Jacks, who sizzled with a hundred for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru against the Gujarat Titans at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, wasn't retained by the franchise. The Surrey all-rounder entered the auction at ₹2 crore and the Punjab Kings were the first to raise the paddle with ₹2.2 crore, while the Mumbai Indians surged to ₹2.4 crore. The price eventually surged to ₹4 crore and then to ₹5 crore, with the Mumbai Indians leading it.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru did not raise the RTM match eventually as Mumbai Indians' owner thanked him. Below is the video of the same:
If Fixing had a face
— Troll Haters (@It_s_Aditya) November 25, 2024
Chumbai for a reason
Akash Ambani went to the RCB table to thank the RCB CEO after getting Will Jacks.#IPL2025 #IPLAuction2025 #RCB #MumbaiIndians #RCBAuction #INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/O99n5nNXbJ
"We are very, very happy to get Boulty back" - Akash Ambani
During a media conference on Monday, Ambani pointed out that getting New Zealand left-arm seamer Trent Boult back and pairing with Jasprit Bumrah is something they targetted and are glad to achieve it. He said:
"Trent Boult and Bumrah are back, that’s the partnership that we really wanted. (The) left-armers are a point of difference for us, especially in the bowling line-up. A lot of the things get dictated, as Andy will tell you, by auction order. You don’t kind of get, you can’t have a preference on a certain player. It doesn’t work like that. We are very, very happy to get Boulty back, of the person (that he is) and of the skill set."