The IPL Mega Auction was held on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 7 teams bought 22 to 25 players, while Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad could only buy 20-21 players. The team of PBKS, DC and RCB, which came up with the biggest purse, has looked almost perfect.
Delhi bought big players at low prices, while KKR could not buy a captain. Mumbai, Rajasthan and Hyderabad finish poorly. While the top-4 of Lucknow and Kolkata seem weak. Because of the impact player rule in IPL, 12 players play in a match, so fewer all-rounders have been bought this time.
In this story, know the strength and weakness of your favorite IPL team and possible-12…
1. Chennai Super Kings: Spin department strong, no fellow finishers with Dhoni
- Strength: Strengthened the core by buying older players like Conway, Rachin, Ashwin, Karan. Noor, Jadeja and Ashwin are making the spin department very strong. Bought 9 all-rounders, 5 of which will also be part of the playing-12. The team's backup is also strong.
- Weakness: The 42-year-old Dhoni is the only finisher. Karan, Jadeja and Ashwin are weak finishers. The pace bowling department also has no suitable players to support Pathirana. Invested more money on young pacers, which could prove risky.
Possible-12: Rituraj Gaikwad (captain), Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Shivam Dubey, Sam Karan, MS Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Khalil Ahmed, Noor Ahmed and Mathisha Pathirana.
Extras: Rachin Ravindra (₹4 crore), Anshul Kamboj (₹3.40 crore), Gurjanpreet Singh (₹2.20 crore), Nathan Ellis (₹2 crore), Jamie Overton (₹1.50 crore), Vijay Shankar (₹1.20 crore), Vansh Bedi (₹55 lakh), Ramakrishna Ghosh (₹30 lakh), Sheikh Rashid (₹30 lakh), Kamlesh Nagarkoti (₹30 lakh), Swastik Chikara (₹30 lakh), Shreyas Gopal (₹30 lakh), Mukesh Chaudhary (₹30 lakh), Andre Siddharth (₹30 lakh).
See the retained players in the graphics…
2. Mumbai Indians: Batting and bowling strong, lack of finishers
- Strength: Being an Indian international player, the team's top order batting is strong. Bumrah, Boult and Chahar are strengthening the pace bowling. Santner and Ghazanfar are fit in the spin department.
- Weakness: There is no finisher in the team to support Hardik. Young Robin Minz will be number seven, if he flops the team's finish will be very poor. There is also no backup Indian wicketkeeper.
Possible-12: Rohit Sharma, Will Jacks, Tilak Verma, Suryakumar Yadav, Naman Dhir, Hardik Pandya (captain), Robin Minz (wicketkeeper), Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Allah Ghazanfar, Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah.
Extras: Ryan Rickleton (₹1 crore), Reece Topley (₹75 lakh), Lizad Williams (₹75 lakh), Karn Sharma (₹50 lakh), Bevan Jacobs (₹50 lakh), Tripurna Vijay (₹50 lakh), Raj Angad Bawa (₹30 lakh), V Satyanarayan (₹30 lakh), Ashwani Kumar (₹30 lakh), Arjun Tendulkar (₹30 lakh), KL Sreejith (₹30 lakh).
See the retained players in the graphics…
3. Kolkata Knight Riders: Captain not bought, finishing very strong
- Strength: Top class finishers are present from numbers 4 to 7. If Narine opens, there is also an option to increase the bowling. Chakraborty, Harshit, Norkia and Vaibhav are also strengthening the bowling.
- Weakness: No captain has been bought, previous captain Shreyas was bought by Punjab. A lot of money was spent on Venkatesh, but it is difficult to fit him into the playing XI. His presence is weakening the team's top order.
Possible-12: Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Enrique Norcia, Varun Chakraborty, Vaibhav Arora and Mayank Markande.
Extras: Spencer Johnson (₹2.80 crore), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (₹2 crore), Moeen Ali (₹2 crore), Rovman Powell (₹1.50 crore), Ajinkya Rahane (₹1.50 crore), Manish Pandey (₹75 lakh), Umran Malik (₹75 lakh), Anukul Roy (₹40 lakh), Lavneeth Sisodia (₹30 lakh).
See the retained players in the graphics…
4. Sunrisers Hyderabad: Batting-bowling strong, finishing a little weak
- Strength: The top-5 batsmen are very explosive, last season they produced the best score in the IPL. The bowling has also been strengthened by the purchase of Harshal and Shami.
- Weakness: Finishing options are poor after Klassen. There are players like Manohar, Mendis, Nishant, but they are not able to increase the strength of the team.
Possible-12: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Reddy, Henrik Klaassen (wicketkeeper), Kamindu Mendis, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins (captain), Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Mohammad Shami and Jaydev Undkat.
Extras: Adam Zampa (₹2.40 crore), Simarjit Singh (₹1.50 crore), Ishaan Malinga (₹1.20 crore), Braden Kars (₹1 crore), Jeeshan Ansari (₹40 lakh), Aniket Verma (₹30 lakh), Atharva Tayde (₹30 lakh), Sachin Baby (₹30 lakh), Nishant Sindhu (₹30 lakh).
See the retained players in the graphics…
5. Royal Challengers Bangalore: Didn't buy big names, built a balanced team; The captain is not decided
- Strength: Big names like Maxwell, Pant, Rahul, Shreyas did not bid. Bought T20 experts like Salt, Livingston, Jitesh, Krunal. Bhuvneshwar, Dayal and Rasikh are strengthening the bowling.
- Weakness: Suyyash Sharma can be dangerous as a wrist spinner. After releasing Du Plessis, the captain was also not bought. The spin section is a bit weak.
Possible-12: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Krunal Pandya, Liam Livingston, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Tim David, Swapnil Singh/Suyesh Sharma, Rasikh Salam, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood and Yash Dayal.
Extras: Jacob Bethel (₹2.60 crore), Devdutt Padikal (₹2 crore), Nuwan Tushara (₹1.60 crore), Lungi Engidi (₹1 crore), Romario Shepherd (₹1.50 crore), Swapnil Singh (₹50 lakh), Manoj Bhandge (₹30 lakh), Abhinandan Singh (₹30 lakh).
See the retained players in the graphics…
6. Delhi Capitals: Batting-bowling strong; The finish depends on the Indians
- Strength: Delhi made the smartest purchases at the auction. The team bought players like Rahul, Starc, Natarajan, Ashutosh at low prices. Both the batting and bowling departments are strong.
- Weakness: Ashutosh and Akshar will be responsible for finishing. In this situation no foreigner has been bought, if the Indian players flop then the team may face trouble here.
Possible-12: Jack Fraser-Megger, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Sameer Rizvi/Abhishek Porel, Harry Brook, Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Akshar Patel, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Thangarasu Natarajan, Mohit Sharma and Mukesh Kumar.
Extras: Faf du Plessis (₹2 crore), Dushmantha Chamira (₹75 lakh), Donovan Ferreira (₹75 lakh), Karun Nair (₹50 lakh), Vipraj Nigam (₹50 lakh), Madhav Tiwari (₹40 lakh), Ajay Mandal (₹30 lakh), Manwant Kumar (₹30 lakh), Darshan Nalkande (₹30 lakh).
See the retained players in the graphics…
7. Punjab Kings: Bought the most expensive players, but strengthened the team
- Strength: Bought a stable captain in the form of Shreyas. Finishing was very strong with Vadera, Maxwell, Stoinis. Arshdeep, Chahal and Jansen are also strengthening the bowling.
- weakness Maxwell has been a flop in the IPL for some time now, Ferguson has also proved costly at times. Bought 3 players from Australia who could not prove themselves in India.
Possible-12: Prabhasimran Singh (wicketkeeper), Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Shashank Singh, Glenn Maxwell, Nehal Vadera, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Janssen, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal and Lockie Ferguson.
Extras: Azmatullah Umarzai (₹2.40 crore), Josh English (₹2.40 crore), Vijaykumar Vaishak (₹1.80 crore), Yash Thakur (₹1.60), Aaron Hardy (₹1.25 crore), Vishnu Vinod (₹95 lakh), Kuldeep Sen ( ₹80 lakh), Xavier Bartlett (₹80 lakh), Harnoor Pannu (₹30 lakh), Suryansh Shegde (₹30 lakh), Payla Avinash (₹30 lakh), Praveen Dubey (₹30 lakh), Mushir Khan (₹30 lakh).
See the retained players in the graphics…
8. Lucknow Supergiants: Top order weak, finishers strong
- Strength: Pooran, Miller, Shahbaz and Samad are strengthening the finishing. Pant plays fast in the IPL, which is also strengthening the middle order.
- Weakness: Marsh and Markram are out of form in T20s, if both do not play then Lucknow will be under pressure only from the powerplay. The fitness of Mohsin and Mayank will also be a concern for the team.
Possible-12: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Ayush Badoni, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Nicholas Pooran, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Mayank Yadav, Awesh Khan/Akash Deep.
Extras: M Siddharth (₹75 lakh), Matthew Bretzky (₹75 lakh), Shamar Joseph (₹75 lakh), Akash Singh (₹30 lakh), Prince Yadav (₹30 lakh), Aryan Juel (₹30 lakh), Yuvraj Chaudhary (₹30 lakh), Himmat Singh (₹30 lakh), Rajvardhan Hungergekar (₹30 lakh), Arshin Kulkarni (₹30 lakh), Digvesh Singh (₹30 lakh).
See the retained players in the graphics…
9. Gujarat Titans: Middle order weak, bowling-finishing strong
- Strength: With the arrival of Buttler, the opening became stronger, a strong wicketkeeping option was also available. Finishing and bowling have become stronger.
- Weakness: Sudarshan and Lomror are risky options in the middle order. Siraj, Rabada and Sundar prove costly at times.
Possible-12: Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Shubman Gill (captain), Sai Sudarshan, Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Phillips, Shah Rukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Washington Sundar, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammad Siraj, Ishtan Krishna.
Extras: Sherfan Rutherford (₹2.60 crore), Gerald Coetzee (₹2.40 crore), Sai Kishore (₹2 crore), Arshad Khan (₹1.30 crore), Gurnoor Brar (₹1.30 crore), Ishant Sharma (₹75 lakh), Jayant Yadav (₹75 lakh), Karim Janat (₹75 lakh), Kumar Kushagra (₹65 lakh), Kulwant Khejrolia (₹30 lakh), Anuj Rawat (₹30 lakh), Manav Suthar (₹30 lakh).
See the retained players in the graphics…
10. Rajasthan Royals: Poor finishing, no backup players either; Batting-bowling strong
- Strength: Retained the batsmen, strengthened the batting by buying Nitish Rana and Shubham Dubey. Hasaranga, Archer, Farooqui and Sandeep Sharma are strengthening the bowling department.
- Weakness: There are no good finishers to support Hetmyer. There is also no strong backup for injured and out-of-form players.
Possible-12: Yashshwi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (captain and wicketkeeper), Nitish Rana, Ryan Parag, Dhruv Jurrell, Shubham Dubey, Shimron Hetmyer, Vanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Fazalhaq Farooqui, Tusshar Deshpande and Sandeep Sharma.
Extras: Mahish Thiksana (₹4.40 crore), Kwena Mafaka (₹1.50 crore), Akash Madhwal (₹1.20 crore), Vaibhav Suryavanshi (₹1.10 crore), Yudhveer Singh Charak (₹35 lakh), Kunal Rathore (₹30 lakh), Ashok Sharma (₹30 lakh), Kartikeya Singh (₹30 lakh).
See the retained players in the graphics…
related to IPL Mega Auction…
These players shocked everyone at IPL auction: Venkatesh's salary hike by ₹15.75 crore, Warner-Shardul remain unsold; 13-year-old uncapped player turned millionaire
The IPL Mega Auction was held on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The auction proved to be truly mega for Indian players, as the top five most expensive players were from India. This is the first time in the history of the auction. For the first time, two players' bids crossed 25 crores. …
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
