Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin tipped his hat to Indian Premier League (IPL) defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for signing New Zealand pacer Jacob Duffy at his base price in the mini auction.
The right-arm medium pacer, aged 31, has been in sensational form of late, and his performances have resulted in him attaining the number two spot in the T20I rankings for bowlers. Not just this, he most recently scalped nine wickets in the third and final Test against the West Indies, helping the Kiwis register a massive 323-run win.
With the haul of nine wickets, Duffy also broke Richard Hadlee’s 40-year-old record of taking the most scalps by a New Zealand bowler in a single calendar year. The pacer has now taken 81 wickets in 2025, beating Hadlee’s tally of 79 in 1985.
In all three Tests against West Indies, Duffy returned with a five-wicket haul, and he finished with a total of 23 wickets. Ashwin took a note of this performance, saying Duffy is turning out to be an exceptional cricketer and this calendar year has been “his coming of age.”
“What a cricketer Jacob Duffy is turning out to be. 2025 has been his coming of age year. 23 wickets at 15.43, 40.3 Strike rate and MOS in the tests against Windies. He’s also the current #2 ranked T20I bowler, with a sensational 2025 in T20s with 57 wickets at 18.9, 7.89 economy, and an elite 53.1% dot ball rate. At 31, he’s operating at peak efficiency,” Ashwin wrote on X.
“Absolute steal by RCB to pick him up at a base price of 2C. Sensational coup,” he added.
Duffy signed for INR 2 crore
The New Zealand speedster was signed by RCB in the mini auction for INR 2 crore in Abu Dhabi. This would be the first time that he would be playing in the IPL, and he’s expected to be a like-for-like replacement for Josh Hazlewood, if the latter is unfit for the tournament or gets injured midway through the competition.
Apart from Duffy, RCB also signed the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Jordon Cox, Mangesh Yadav, and Vihaan Malhotra in the auction.
RCB squad for IPL 2026: Rajat Patidar (captain), Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Abhinandan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Devdutt Padikkal, Jacob Bethell, Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Dar, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Yash Dayal, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Duffy, Mangesh Yadav, Satwik Deswal, Jordan Cox, Vihaan Malhotra, Kanishk Chouhan