How each franchise fared in IPL 2021 auction

After over five hours of intense bidding, the eight Indian Premier League (IPL) teams have splashed cash on players in hope that they will help them lift the trophy. This auction saw many records broken, many surprise purchases and a few big players who went unsold.

Let’s have a look at how each team fared in this auction:

Mumbai Indians

In our analysis, we had said that MI will go searching for overseas pacers and also another spinner to add to their depth. The five-time champions ticked both boxes as they procured Adam Milne and Nathan Coulter-Nile – the latter for three crore lesser than the previous auction. In the spin department, they bought Piyush Chawla for INR 2.4 crore, who along with Krunal Pandya, Jayant Yadav and Rahul Chahar, will add a bit more experience in the team. 

Mumbai Indians best XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard/James Neesham, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Dhawal Kulkarni/Jayant Yadav, Rahul Chahar/Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult

Delhi Capitals

A lot of responsibility was on the shoulders of Marcus Stoinis to deliver with the bat lower down the order, but Delhi Capitals now have the services of Sam Billings (INR 2 crore) and if they need an Indian to fill in that slot, it could be Vishnu Vinod (INR 20 lakh), who with a strike-rate of 136.03 has shown his worth in the past in the shortest format. Vinod could also double up as a back-up wicketkeeper for Rishabh Pant, if needed. The addition of left-arm pacer Lukman Meriwala for INR 20 lakh too could be a valuable addition as they needed a good Indian pacer to support the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje. They tried Tushar Deshpande last season, but the move did not work out particularly well. So, they’ve gone for the experience of Umesh Yadav this time. 

Delhi Capitals best XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer (c), Shimron Hetmyer/Sam Billings, Rishabh Pant (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma/Umesh Yadav

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad had the lowest purse size going into the auction with INR 10.75 crore. They had three slots to fill, out of which one could be an overseas star. While they had all their bases covered already, they still needed to address a couple of areas, one of which was someone who could accelerate at the death as they scored at just 8.96 between overs 16 to 20 last season, which was the lowest among all teams. To that end, they have bought Kedar Jadhav for INR 2 crore, which given his last year’s performance is not ideal, but if not him, they still have the likes of Priyam Garg, Virat Singh or Abdul Samad who could do damage. With the acquisition of Mujeeb ur Rahman, SRH now have an Afghanistan spin trio, with Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi. 

Sunrises Hyderabad best XI: David Warner (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav/Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma/Vijay Shankar, Mujeeb ur Rahman/Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan

Royal Challengers Bangalore

For years, Royal Challengers Bangalore have yearned for a batsman who can support Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. They have splurged INR 14.25 crore on Glenn Maxwell and also got Kyle Jamieson for INR 15 crore as a bowling all-rounder. Maxwell did not have a particularly good IPL 2020 but has received the support of RCB to deliver this season. Other than him, they have also bought Mohammed Azharuddeen for INR 20 lakh, who could be a valuable addition down the order. 

Azharuddeen is also a valuable back-up wicketkeeper, while Jamieson could be handy in the pace bowling department to support the likes of Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini. With Dan Christian also in the fray, RCB have enough depth in the overseas all-round department.

Royal challengers Bangalore best XI: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, Sachin Baby, Washington Sundar, Daniel Sams/Kyle Jamieson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders have had problems with the ball in the beginning and also in the end. They failed to pick up a single wicket in the Powerplay in seven out of their 14 games last season. Also, at the death, they were one of the most expensive bowling unit, giving away 10.1 runs per over. How did they address that? They signed Harbhajan Singh for INR 2 crore, who could be a good option in the Powerplay and maybe in the middle. But during the death, they are stuck with the same old bowlers they did in the previous season.

In the all-round department, they needed someone as a back-up for Andre Russell, who had a torrid time in IPL 2020. As a result, they have added Ben Cutting and Shakib Al Hasan and if they need an Indian option, they can also turn to Pawan Negi. However, the rest of the buys like Karun Nair or Sheldon Jackson might add very little value to the side but are decent back-ups. 

Kolkata Knight Riders best XI: Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (c), Andre Russell/Ben Cutting, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sunil Narine/Shakib Al Hasan, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna

Punjab Kings

With INR 53.2 crore to spend, Kings XI Punjab had the highest purse size going into the auction. Safe to say, they had enough resources to address all their problems. As mentioned in our analysis, they needed good fast bowlers, who could control the run-leak given that PBKS were the most expensive bowling unit with an economy rate of 9.01 last season. They bought Jhye Richardson, who was the leading wicket-taker in BBL 10 and also another quick in Riley Meredith. 

With Maxwell being released, they needed a quality off-spinner and they went all guns blazing to acquire the services of Shahrukh Khan for INR 5.25 crore from a base price of INR 20 lakh. They have also added more depth, with spin bowling all-rounders Fabian Allen and Jalaj Saxena. With the addition of the No. 1 T20I batsman Dawid Malan, there could very well be a tussle at the top, as they already have Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran. 

Punjab Kings best XI: KL Rahul (c & wk), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Dawid Malan, Mandeep Singh, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda/Jalaj Saxena, Jhye Richardson, Mohd Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Shahrukh Khan

Chennai Super Kings

The three-time IPL winners Chennai Super Kings had a season to forget in 2020, but with the tournament returning to India this time around, we might see them shine once again. CSK had a good team in 2020 as well, but most of the core players were suited for the track at Chepauk, based on which the team was initially picked. However, they failed to get any momentum in the majority of the matches last season, scoring at a run-rate of just 7.29 in the first 15 overs, which was the worst after RCB (7.17). 

This is why the procurement of Cheteshwar Pujara for INR 50 lakh was puzzling as he has a strike-rate of under 100 from 30 IPL matches. CSK have invested in a couple of all-rounders, like Krishnappa Gowtham (INR 9.25 crore) and Moeen Ali (INR 7 crore), who could perhaps help them score at a quicker rate to go with their bowling skills. 

These two purchases make sense as their spinners were well below par going at 8.51 runs per over, and they picked up a wicket once every 40.15 runs, 28.3 balls apar in IPL 2020. 

Chennai Super Kings best XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu/Robin Uthappa, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja/K Gowtham, Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir

Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals perhaps had the best auction among all teams, filling their side with some quality fast bowlers. A lot of dependence and burden on Jofra Archer to deliver last season and now, the Englishman will have the support of Chris Morris (INR 16.25 crore), Mustafizur Rahman (INR 1 crore) and the all-round option of Shivam Dube (INR 4.4 crore). Royals have also roped in left-arm pacer Chetan Sakariya, who did exceedingly well for Saurashtra in the Syed Mushraq Ali Trophy recently to further add to their depth. The addition of Liam Livingstone for INR 75 lakh could also be a valuable addition given that he had a good BBL season with Perth Scorchers.

Rajasthan Royals best XI: Jos Buttler (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c), Ben Stokes, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat