Best XI of strongest teams CSK, MI, dark horse PBKS, ‘same’ old KKR: How all 10 teams fared at IPL auction

CSK went about with their usual duties, albeit with a different touch. Unlike previous times, day 1 of the mega auction pretty much shaped their squad as they invested in bring back some of their core players and some old faces. The focus, like recent times, remained on getting a long batting line-up, roping in more all-rounder precisely, and having enough back-up for all slots. The five-time champions, who let go off Deepak Chahar, and ignored Shardul Thakur, also invested a lot on Indian uncapped fast bowlers.

Getting back Sam Curran for INR 2.40 crore, might prove to be a steal deal. Not only can he bolster the batting line-up by offering versatility, he can ably support Matthesa Pathirana in the death overs. CSK also acquired Afghanistan left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad, their only attacking spinner in the line-up. And he could be replaced on non-turning tracks with Australia’s Nathan Ellis, who as well can bowl in the death.

Best playing XII: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi/Vijay Shankar, Shivam Dube, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Matheesha Pathirana, Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad/Nathan Ellis.

Delhi picked up some big name players in KL Rahul, Faf du Plessis, T Natarajan, and Mitchell Starc across the two days in Jeddah. They probably were the happiest getting Rahul for INR 14 crore, which is price not going past INR 20 crore as it did Rishabh Pant (INR 27 crore) or Shreyas Iyer (INR 26.75 crore). But their line-up lacks an all-rounder besides Axar Patel. This means unless they crack the Impact Player rule, it could end up being a concern throughout the season. They also have no experienced back-up for Kuldeep Yadav nor for either Starc or Natarajan.

Creating batting firepower around Rahul with the addition of Jake Fraser-McGurk, Harry Brook and Tristan Stubbs, will allow the India star to easily resolve to his natural anchor-style game. They also bolstered their pace line-up with two left-arm bowlers in Starc and Natarajan and two Indian options in Mukesh Kumar and Mohit Sharma.

Best playing XII: KL Rahul, Jake Fraser-McGurk/Faf du Plessis, Harry Brook, Abhishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Axar Patel, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar.

“They went safter the wrong Iyer” – Former India batter Sanjay Bangar’s remark at the end of day 1 in Jeddah perfectly summed up KKR’s outing.

Kolkata’s strategy remained the same – buying back their old players to retain the core unit. And they did, which included shelling an eye-popping amount of INR 23.75 crore for Venkatesh Iyer, while also roping in Vaibhav Arora, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Angkrish Raghuvanshi. However, on two cases, they failed to get an upgrade as they settled for Quinton de Kock and Anrich Nortje/Spencer Johnson after letting go of Phil Salt and Starc respectively.

But the biggest question still remains – who will be the next KKR captain? Is it Venkatesh Iyer or Rinku Singh?

Venkatesh will be playing under a lot of pressure next, not only for the heavy price-tag, but it is on his shoulders that the entire batting would rest given that De Kock no longer remains a force to reckon in the T20 format, while KKR also have a weak middle order.

Best playing XII: Sunil Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Angrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora.

Gujarat Titans have a quiet way of going about their business in an auction. They never do garner much attention, but at the end of all the process they have one of the strongest team on paper. This time around, Gujarat managed to build a strong batting line-up, filled with firepower. They picked up quite a few good all-rounders in Washington Sundar, Sherfane Rutherford and Glenn Phillips for a combined price of just INR 6.8 crore. Not to forget they have plenty of left-hand batters and left-arm spin options, which will allow them to even experiment at times without keeping in mind the 101s of team formation in T20 cricket.

Gujarat’s only worry will be that their bowling attack, which may not look as threatening. Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna do form a potent pace line-up, but none are T20 specialists. They will depend on Siraj and Krishna with the new ball, while Rabada will return to his death-over duties, despite being off colour last season.

Best XII: Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler, Sai Sudharsan, Washington Sundar, Sherfane Rutherford/Glenn Phillips, Shahrukh Khan, Mahipal Lomror, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, Arshad Khan

LSG’s only highlight in the entire two days of auction was the signing in of Rishabh Pant for a record price of INR 27 crore. And they eventually managed to form one of the strongest middle-order line-up, albeit with untested back-ups. But they failed to address their lack of frontline opening options and is likely to settle with Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram for the role.

Their big positive, however, is an all-Indian bowling line-up, which will allow them to invest their entire overseas resource on the batting line-up, but again lack experience when it comes to the back-ups. LSG will hence rely entirely on their first XI and hope to avoid any injury concerns throughout the season.

Best XII: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant, Ayush Badoni, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan.

For the first five hours of the auction, Mumbai Indians barely made a move, before picking their first player in Trent Boult. On day 1, they made just three purchases as they headed to the final day with the second biggest purse. But then they made notable purchases in Will Jacks, Deepak Chahar, and Allah Ghazanfar, and viola, the team suddenly started to look one the strongest on paper.

With Will Jacks in, Mumbai now have a strong batting line-up, but their biggest strength lies in the pace department, which comprises frontline options – Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, and Trent Boult, in addition to Hardik Pandya.

With MI lacking a proper finisher to aid Hardik, they will heavily rely on uncapped and untested Robin Minz, who played just two T20 matches in his career, to fire. They are also a tad bit thin on the back-ups.

Best XII: Rohit Sharma, Will Jacks, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Naman Dhir, Hardik Pandya, Robin Minz, Deepak Chahar, Mitchell Santner, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Allah Ghazanfar.

Was this Punjab Kings’ best show at an auction? They did have the biggest purse in the auction, having retained just two players, which on the contrary can often leave a team distracted with the vast number of choices. But since their first acquisition in Shreyas Iyer for INR 26.75, they looked like a team with the plan. They signed in Yuzvendra Chahal and Arshdeep Singh, shaping a strong Indian bowling line-up, and later bagged all-rounders in Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell and Marcos Jansen, implying that they could have the long batting order. Punjab also loaded their squad with able back-up all-rounders for Jansen in Azmatullah Omarzai and Aaron Hardie, while also signing a few back-up fast bowlers in Lockie Ferguson, Xavier Bartlett and Yash Thakur.

Best XII: Prabhsimran Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis, Shreyas Iyer, Glenn Maxwell, Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Marco Jansen, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak.

With Rajasthan having retained five batters and just one pacer, it was evident that they would go big on bowlers. Their two notable buys were Jofra Archer and Wanindu Hasaranga, but it could seem a bit of a gamble for Rajasthan, given that both are injury prone. However, they do have decent back-ups in Afghanistan’s Fazalhaq Farooqui, who comes in as a replacement for Trent Boult, and Akash Madhwal, who was sort of building a reputation as a death-over specialist in Mumbai Indians last season. Not to forget, RR also picked another Sri Lankan spinner in Maheesh Theekshana, ready to make the first XI.

Rajasthan’s only concerns will be untested back-ups and lacking that bite in the pace department, which has no capped Indian.

Best XII: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Nitish Rana, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Sandeep Sharma, Akash Madhwal, Maheesh Theekshana.

RCB were the most criticised team across the two days of the auction with experts baffled at some, if not mot of their moves. They did not go hard for KL Rahul and did not use their RTMs to re-sign Maxwell, Siraj, Jacks or du Plessis. Yet, by the end of it all, Bengaluru managed to form a well-balanced squad, that may not depend on one or few players.

They have a strong batting line-up with the addition of Salt at the top of the order and Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma and Tim David in the middle, followed by Krunal Pandya. And then shelled out INR 10.25 crore to rope in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who will join Josh Hazlewood in the pace line-up alongside Yash Dayal.

Best XII: Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David/Jacob Bethell, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Salam, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal.

SRH had the best retention. But one unaddressed issue, leaves them with a big concern. The strategy remained same as the one that helped their end their long streak of poor shows in IPLs, as they further bolstered their batting with the addition of Ishan Kishan and Abhinav Manohar, while the Indian heavy bowling line-up will add to their advantage. But the No.7 issue will likely haunt them throughout the season, implying a heavy reliance on the Impact Player rule.

Best XII: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Sachin Baby, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Rahul Chahar, Adam Zampa.