Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) had to make some hard decisions to choose their set of retained players ahead of the Indian Premier League 2026 Auction. Among the biggest name that they had to let go was the all-rounder Liam Livingstone. The English cricketer could not make any meaningful contributions during the 2025 season, failing to justify his heavy price tag of INR 8.75 crore.

Former RCB and India veteran Anil Kumble believes that the franchise eventually made the right call, as the on-field performance did not reflect the promise he brought to the table when he was first picked up by the side for the 2025 season. Kumble, who had spent time with Livingstone at Punjab Kings in 2022, says that the all-rounder remains a game-changer regardless, and is likely to find heavy bidding in 2026 as well.

"Releases are always tough calls. Liam Livingstone is someone I enjoyed working with closely, and he was extremely good for Punjab in IPL 2022, probably his best IPL season. He can change the game single-handedly in just a few overs with his powerful batting. What makes him special is his bowling flexibility; he bowls leg spin to right-handers and off spin to left-handers, plus he's a good fielder, making him a complete package," Kumble said via JioStar.

Analysing further into RCB's retained players, Kumble believes that while the core of the defending champions looks set to come good in 2026, they will still have to make a few additions. The bulk of the bowling workload was managed by Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Yash Dayal in 2025, and Kumble wants RCB to pick good backup options for these pacers at the auction table for the 2026 season.

"Unfortunately, he didn't have a great IPL season for RCB last year and also missed out on selection for England. Otherwise, I'm sure other franchises would be interested in him. His high price tag was likely a factor in the release. RCB also needs to find backup options, both an overseas fast bowler and an Indian fast bowler to support their main bowling attack of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood. This need for bowling depth might be another reason behind this tough call," he added further.

For the unversed, the IPL 2026 Auction is all set to take place in Abu Dhabi on December 16, 2025 at the Etihad Arena. RCB will enter the event with a little over 16 crores of purse money remaining. As a result, it will be interesting to see the kind of combination the Rajat Patidar-led side finalizes for the upcoming edition of the cash-rich tournament.