ANALYSIS
Follow UsRoyal Challengers Bangalore
Slots Filled
14 Indian, 8 overseas
Heading into the second day, Bangalore were in desperate need of a left-hand batter proficient against spin and to their credit, the Reds fought hard to acquire the services of Mahipal Lomror. They also brought back Finn Allen but given Lomror is a doubtful starter, they might have been better off investing in a left-handed overseas opener. Still, Allen is a fine signing given he can potentially be a game-changer up top.
Jason Behrendorff and Sherfane Rutherford are the other notable signings RCB made on the second day, and both are great additions that complete the squad. While Rutherford can serve as a finisher that can double-up as an extra seamer, Behrendorff is an ideal back-up for Hazlewood.
But all things considered, RCB’s squad remains an imbalanced one. While their bowling attack is close to complete, there are gaping holes on the batting front, especially in the middle-order.
Once again RCB will enter an IPL season heavily dependent on three batters, in this case Kohli, du Plessis and Maxwell.
Probable Playing XI
Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell (c), Mahipal Lomror, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Slots Filled
15 Indian, 8 overseas
Quality overseas batters (and run machines) was the need of the hour for SRH heading into the second day, and things began perfectly for them as they snapped up the excellent Aiden Markram for 2.60 crore. However, the smart purchase of Markram was followed by a series of buys that were inexplicable and devoid of logic.
Having already assembled a complete, all-Indian bowling attack on the first day, SRH, instead of pursuing foreign batters to make up for the inexperienced batting, targeted more overseas bowlers. Tom Moody’s side spent a whopping 14.35 crore on the trio of Marco Jansen, Romario Shepherd and Sean Abbott, three players who, as things stand, are not guaranteed starters. It wasn’t until the accelerated auction that they made a necessary signing again, snapping up Glenn Phillips for his base price.
The franchise’s puzzling tactics at the auction table has now left them with a very strong bowling attack that has admirable depth, and a paper-thin batting line-up that is unstable, inexperienced and over-dependent on Kane Williamson.
Possible Playing XI
Kane Williamson(c), Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar, Romario Shepherd, Bhunveshwar Kumar, Kartik Tyagi, T Natarajan
Mumbai Indians
Slots Filled
17 Indian, 8 overseas
Entering Sunday with the second biggest purse of all teams, Mumbai waited and waited and waited, much to the bewilderment of everyone that tuned in. As it turned out, the five-time champions knew exactly what they were doing.
Mumbai were silent observers for the entirety of the first half of the day, watching the other teams exhaust cash, but they pounced big time in the accelerated auction. A stunning session saw them snap up Tim David, Tymal Mills, Daniel Sams, Riley Meredith and, the biggest name of all, Jofra Archer. The celebrations at the table post Archer’s purchase suggested that they got exactly what and who they wanted.
Archer, though, won’t be available until next season, and it has to be said that there are definitely chinks in Mumbai’s armour this time around. While David has big shoes to fill as Pandya’s replacement, there is inexperience right up top in the form of Tilak Varma and Anmolpreet Singh. Sams, Murugan Ashwin and Sanjay Yadav are also players who would have struggled to walk into the Mumbai sides of yesteryear.
What’s evident is that Mumbai have more than one eye on the future, to the extent that they might be willing to tolerate bad results in the short term. The purchases of Dewald Brevis, Archer, Meredith, Varma and David are all long-term investments for which the franchise might not reap immediate rewards.
Possible Playing XI
Rohit Sharma(c), Tilak Varma/Anmolpreet Singh, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tim David, Kieron Pollard, Daniel Sams, Sanjay Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Tymal Mills, Murugan Ashwin
Punjab Kings
Slots Filled
18 Indian, 7 overseas
In our preview for the day, we’d highlighted the need for Punjab to buy ‘lower-order power-hitters alongside SRK that preferably bowl.’ And buy they did, that too arguably the two best options available: Liam Livingstone and Odean Smith, though they had to break the bank for the pair.
Punjab needed Indian seamers too, and they addressed the area by snapping up Sandeep Sharma and young Vaibhav Arora, both of whom are excellent powerplay operators. They also landed the exciting Raj Bawa and the experienced Rishi Dhawan as Indian seam-bowling all-rounders, and brought back Nathan Ellis to round-off the bowling attack.
The near-perfect job done by the management at the auction table means that Punjab have a potent, well-balanced squad that could potentially challenge for the title. They have covered all bases, and filled it with quality.
If we are to nit-pick, though, the one area where they are relatively not as strong is the pace department. Rabada and Arshdeep are frontline guns, but, outside the duo, there exists inexperience that could possibly be exploited by batting line-ups.
Possible Playing XI
Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Liam Livingstone, Shahrukh Khan, Raj Bawa, Odean Smith, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
Gujarat Titans
Slots Filled
15 Indian, 8 overseas
Much like Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gujarat Titans, heading into Day 2, needed to acquire quality overseas middle-order batters to make up for the inexperience on the Indian front. However, despite there being plenty of options at their disposal, the Titans decided to bring in just David Miller. Quite the peculiar choice, given what they needed was a run-accumulator and not a power-hitter.
The Titans solved the wicket-keeper sized hole by purchasing veteran Saha, and further buffed up their already strong bowling by recruiting Alzarri Joseph, Darshan Nalkande, Varun Aaron and Jayant Yadav. Pandya will have at his disposal one of the best bowling units in the competition.
How Gujarat fare in their debut season, then, will entirely depend on if their batters can ably support the bowlers. There are inadequacies, especially in the middle-order, and therefore the batting might need to be carried by Shubman Gill, Jason Roy and Hardik Pandya. At the very least, they will need the likes of Saha, Vijay Shankar and Rahul Tewatia to chip-in with telling contributions once every two or three matches.
Possible Playing XI
Jason Roy, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Abhinav Manohar, Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya (c), Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Lockie Ferguson, Alzarri Joseph
Delhi Capitals
Slots filled
17 Indians, 7 Overseas
Delhi went into the second day with two primary agendas - Indian pacers and middle-order batters. Their approach was surrounded around addressing the same. They spent over 50 percent of their remaining purse to acquire Khaleel Ahmed and Chetan Sakariya. Khaleel was a touch overpriced which limited their purse. However, Delhi still fetched Rovman Powell to fill the finisher’s slot. He can also bowl a couple of overs if required.
Their other buys were miserly. In Mandeep Singh, they have increased middle-order options. Lalit Yadav and Ripal Patel return to the squad for only INR 0.85 crore between them. Pravin Dubey and Vicky Ostwal are their back-up spin options. Delhi also signed the local lad and the recent U19 World Cup-winning skipper, Yash Dhull. All they lack is a backup spin option. Hence, the move to buy Lungi Ngidi for INR 0.5 crore when Tabraiz Shamsi was available at INR 1 crore raised a few eyebrows.
In the overview, Delhi had a little chance of re-gaining the players they had to release. Their new squad is based around the four players they retained and a few big signings in David Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Shardul Thakur. For other four spots, Delhi have plenty of options with each candidate showing plenty of potential. But who gets the nod will be decided once they take the field during IPL 2022.
Possible Playing XI
Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (c/wk), Sarfaraz Khan/Lalit Yadav, Rovman Powell, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav, Chetan Sakariya
Chennai Super Kings
Slots filled
17 Indians, 8 Overseas
Having focused on retaining their core on day one, Chennai looked beyond their former players on the second day of the auction. Their prime requirements included an outright fast bowler, a younger wicketkeeping alternative and an opener. They found the answers in Adam Milne and Devon Conway respectively, spending less than INR 3 crore combined. Although, it was surprising they didn’t look for another pure pacer given Milne’s troubled history with injuries.
Instead, they were more interested in all-rounders, buying two options in Shivam Dube and the U19 lad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar. Dwaine Pretorius was a steal at his base price. They also bought back Mitchell Santner. Maheesh Theekshana was an interesting buy, further adding to their spin department. Chennai were also quite clear about signing Mumbai’s Prashant Solanki, for whom they have paid INR 1.2 crore, six times his base price.
Overall, Chennai appear to continue with the similar strategy that has brought them success in the yesteryears - a lot of all-round options. Hence, it is tough to pick a first-choice XI for them. It will largely be factored on the conditions and the performance of their new signings.
Possible Playing XI
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni (c/wk), Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Jordan/Dwaine Pretorius, Adam Milne
Lucknow Super Giants
Slots filled
14 Indians, 7 Overseas
Lucknow did a majority of their work on the first day itself, securing nearly nine first-choice XI players. Showing up with a limited purse today, they were only concerned with signing back-ups and secured them in abundance. The most significant was the addition of Dushmantha Chameera, an excellent backup option for Mark Wood. Their fascination with all-rounders was confirmed again with the signing of Krishnappa Gowtham and Kyle Mayers, the latter for base price.
The first-choice XI is quite convincing except it lacks one specialist batter. Due to the same, they lack batting depth despite the presence of several all-rounders. From the bowling perspective, they have as many as seven options in the XI. There are three spinners, all of different trades - leg-spin, off-spin and left-arm orthodox.
Possible Playing XI
KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock (wk), Manish Pandey, Manan Vohra, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mark Wood
Kolkata Knight Riders
Slots filled
17 Indians, 8 Overseas
Limited purse restricted Kolkata’s charge towards building a balanced squad on the second day. They had so many slots to fill, it was certain they will be left crippled in at least one department. They were shopping for an opener, a wicketkeeper, a middle-order batter and Indian seam bowling options. Over expenditure on Nitish Rana and Shivam Mavi meant they had to settle for below-par options in Ajinkya Rahane and Umesh Yadav. The duo has played less than 15 IPL matches each in the last two years.
In the latter stages of the auction, Kolkata identified Sam Billings filling two slots - wicketkeeper and middle-order batter - and bought him for base price. Mohammad Nabi, Tim Southee, Alex Hales and Chamika Karunaratne are solid backup options but it matters little when the first XI isn’t convincing at first sight. Kolkata, in fact, have little flexibility with their first-choice XI.
Possible Playing XI
Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Sam Billings (wk), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine, Shivam Mavi, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy
Rajasthan Royals
Slots filled
16 Indians, 8 Overseas
Rajasthan emerges as one of the most imbalanced sides after the auction. After a stunning start on the first day, they dipped massively. It was a consequence of not finding any proven all-round options. Their whole 24-man squad has only three all-round options. Dissecting them highlights James Neesham as their best option to bat at seven. He has played only 12 IPL matches with his debut dating back to 2014. Since 2020, he averages 19.2 with the bat (only one fifty) and 27.7 with the ball. A higher bowling average doesn’t put him in the category of the most impactful all-rounders.
Rajasthan were probably late to recognize the need of an all-rounder as they fetched Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Daryl Mitchell in the final moments of the auction.
They also needed a death bowler. Obed McCoy showed an impressive skillset last year but is yet to materialize it consistently at the international level. He might not even make it to the XI since their first-choice combination doesn’t let them play two overseas pacers. Not to forget, Prasidh Krishna is also quite raw at the highest level. The retainees - Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson - and the spin twins in Ashwin and Chahal remain to be Rajasthan’s strongest suit with a lot of unconvincing dynamics around them.
Possible Playing XI
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c/wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, James Neesham, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna, Trent Boult
