IPL 2025 auction: MI, CSK crack the code again; KKR considerably weaker

Chennai Super Kings

Unlike other years, five-time IPL winners CSK had a very different strategy at the auction this time around, probably the influence of AR Srikkanth. After day one, almost 90% of the team was picked, with a lot of familiar names, such as Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra and Ravichandran Ashwin, back to the setup. 

They didn’t stop there, with CSK picking up some smart buys on day two, including Sam Curran, who can provide them with the batting depth while keeping the bowling strong. Anshul Kamboj’s pick bolstered the bowling unit considerably well. In Nathan Ellis, they have someone who can definitely replace Pathirana in case the Sri Lankan gets injured. 

CSK also got the back-ups for every spot in the XI, and the purchase of Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Gopal, and Kamlesh Nagarkoti only shows how much they value experience and variety. 

In the bowling department, they have it all: a left-arm pacer, a swing bowler, a speedster, a death-over bowler, an off-spinner, a left-arm spinner and a left-arm unorthodox bowler (yes, that’s where they shelled 10 CR for Noor Ahmad). While they do have a very good bowling unit at home, they also have interesting picks for conditions away from home. 

Probable XIIs: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Shivam Dube, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Anshul Kamboj, Noor Ahmad, Matheesha Pathirana, Khaleel Ahmed

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Before the start of the auction, SRH were looking pretty strong after the retention. But somewhere between day one of the auction and the end of day two’s auction, they struggled to fill that No.7 slot, which has haunted them in the past. 

In Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Nitish Kumar Reddy, they possibly have a very dynamic top four. Abhinav Manohar and Heinrich Klaasen add the bite needed as finishers. All of them are more than capable of hitting both pace and spin alike. The addition of Manohar only makes this batting more mouth-watering. 

With the ball, Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Rahul Chahar, and Adam Zampa are as good as it gets. Another aspect where SRH might struggle is with their backup options. None of the Indian options, barring Jaydev Unadkat, is really experienced or proven at the highest level. 

Overall, they have as many as seven bowling options in the XI, and potentially could even stretch that to eight. But until they find a creative way to fill that No.7 role, they might continue their struggle for a trophy. 

Probable XIIs: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Abhinav Manohar, Sachin Baby/Atharva Taide, Pat Cummins (c), Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Adam Zampa

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

“Ee Saala RTM namde?”

If you were RCB and you had three RTMs, who would you have used it for? Glenn Maxwell? Will Jacks? Faf du Plessis? Mohammed Siraj? Anyone like that, right? 

But RCB, being RCB, picked Swapnil Singh as their RTM player, completely ignoring all the other candidates. Think about this: they didn’t go hard after KL Rahul, a player who couldn’t have been more tailor-made for a franchise than RCB. It isn’t just cricket; it is the entire package, isn’t it? 

They continued a puzzling approach on day two as well, shelling INR 10.75 crores on a 34-year-old Bhuvneshwar Kumar. We aren’t kidding. But in the form of Tim David, Krunal Pandya and Liam Livingstone, they have very good reinforcement in the middle order. 

Three of the biggest purchases for RCB are clearly Phil Salt, Josh Hazlewood, and Jitesh Sharma, which shows what RCB intends to do. It also gives away that Virat Kohli is likely to captain the side. There’s the ever-surrounding concern around the bowling unit. 

Probable XIIs: Phil Salt (wk), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Krunal Pandya, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Rasikh Dar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Swapnil Singh

Mumbai Indians

Very good retentions, a puzzling day one, but what a day two. 

Mumbai Indians went from, “Oh, we are in this auction?” to “We are in the auction.” That’s when they purchased Will Jacks, Deepak Chahar, and Allah Ghazanfar, making them go from strong to stronger. 

In Chahar, Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah, Mumbai have one of the best pace bowling units in the competition. If you add Hardik Pandya, they have it all when it comes to pace. The most interesting part of MI’s auction strategy was on day two when they went after Will Jacks and Allah Ghazanfar while acquiring Mitchell Santner. 

What it does to MI’s setup is bring in a mystery spinner, and a very good one at that. Not only has Ghazanfar had a good start to his international career, but also has a bowling action that hasn’t been cracked till now. It adds more bite to their bowling unit, which looked one-dimensional in the past. 

If there’s one issue, it might be that they don’t have many good backup options, which puts all of their eggs in one basket. But the biggest positive for them is that they can play with three overseas players and slot one extra depending on the situation. 

Probable XII: Will Jacks, Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Robin Minz (wk), Deepak Chahar, Mitchell Santner, Allah Ghazanfar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Karn Sharma

Kolkata Knight Riders

KKR followed the trend of buying their old players back, purchasing Venkatesh Iyer, Vaibhav Arora, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Angkrish Raghuvanshi. If day one wasn’t enough, they got back Ajinkya Rahane on day two, alongside Manish Pandey and Anukul Roy. 

However, there’s one concern: KKR still don't have a ‘captain’. See how that is a problem after letting go of their mercurial skipper, Shreyas Iyer? Maybe Sunil Narine or Venkatesh Iyer? After letting go of Phil Salt, KKR had to settle for Quinton de Kock, who isn’t quite of that same material. 

On the bowling front, unlike last year, they don’t have a Mitchell Starc but will have to settle with Anrich Nortje. Barring that, it looks like how a typical KKR outfit will look like but without a lot of good back-up options, which the other teams have managed with almost the same budget. 

Maybe they can use Anukul Roy as their impact player? 

Probable XII: Sunil Narine, Quinton de Kock (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Anrich Nortje, Anukul Roy

Gujarat Titans

At one point, Gujarat had a potential all-LHB middle order. Sai Sudharsan, Mahipal Lomror, Sherfane Rutherford, Washington Sundar, and Anuj Rawat are all left-handed batters they bought, along with a number of left-arm spin options – R Sai Kishore, Manav Suthar and Nishant Sindhu. 

Among the right-handers, they signed Jos Buttler, the most expensive overseas signing of the auction. Though Gujarat filled the wicketkeeping batter’s slot with the premier option in the market, but it would be interesting to see if Buttler opens with Shubman Gill or makes way for Sudharsan by batting at three. 

Rutherford has been in top form in white-ball cricket and would be David Miller’s replacement in the squad. It seemed improbable before the auction started, but they bagged both Glenn Phillips and Washington Sundar (off-spin bowling allrounder, overseas version and Indian version) for only INR 5.2 crore combined. 

Ultimately, GT have plenty of options to frame their batting order without worrying about nitty-gritty like spin-hitters, pace-hitters, LHB-RHB combinations, etc. Arshad Khan is also a handy pick as an Impact Player. 

They have a potent seam attack, though. Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna have had an up-and-down ride in the previous cycle. By the end of the 2024 season, Rabada was off-loaded from his death over duties. Here, he would be GT’s prime pacer at the death. 

This is why it was surprising to see them buy Ishant Sharma and Afghanistan's Karim Janat. There is also no Noor Ahmed to be a spin-bowling force with Rashid Khan. Overall, GT’s bowling has taken a hit in this reset of teams. Having said that, Rabada and Siraj can also have the opposition 30/3 in the powerplay. 

Probable XII: Shubman Gill ( c ), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Arshad Khan

Punjab Kings

For a team that had to build their squad from scratch, Punjab did quite well. The extravagant prices paid to secure a captain in Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Arshdeep Singh may raise eyebrows, but Punjab had the purse and sealed a core in the marquee sets itself. Marco Jansen — the most prized seam-bowling all-rounder in the auction — was another bumper signing on the second day.

In their first XI itself, PBKS seem to have six bowling options with the all-rounders like Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell bought at reasonable prices. It will also have batting till eight with Jansen. Hence, Punjab hold immense depth in both departments. 

The team from the North also obtained handy backups for Jansen in Azmatullah Omarzai and Aaron Hardie, and some fast-bowling backups in Lockie Ferguson, Xavier Bartlett and Yash Thakur. However, their batting backups are all unproven Indian talent with potential — Vishnu Vinod, Priyansh Arya and Musheer Khan. Hence, they will consistently need good results from their first-choice batters. 

Wicket-takers, variation bowlers, the leg-spinners, the off-spinner, the left-arm spinners, and left-armers, Punjab have everything in terms of a complete bowling attack. In batting though, they have only one left-hander in their best possible XII. 

You could see Ricky Ponting's influence in the team's construction, given that six of Punjab’s eight overseas picks are Australians. 

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

Lucknow Super Giants

LSG clearly went from crafting an XI out of all-rounders to investing in one-dimensional specialists. 

Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Ayush Badoni, Arshin Kulkarni and Shahbaz Ahmad are some options, but there is still a considerable cut down from the all-rounders’ count from their previous seasons. 

Interestingly, Lucknow were keen on the Indian bowlers. They went after every Indian seam-bowling talent and splashed money to buy Avesh Khan and Akash Deep, signing Akash Singh, Kulkarni and Rajvardhan Hangargekar on the way. This way, they have plenty of backups for their injury-prone first-choice seamers, Mayank Yadav and Mohsin Khan. 

The LSG owner, Sanjeev Goenka, pumped his fist on securing the mystery spinner Digvesh Singh (14 wickets in 10 DPL matches) for base price. He can form a spin duo with Ravi Bishnoi. Overall, Shamar Joseph (RTMed) is the only overseas bowling signing of LSG.

Let’s come to the spicy part of their squad now – the middle-order batting, which is filled with power-hitters. LSG paid a record-breaking sum of 27 crore to Rishabh Pant to pair him up with Nicholas Pooran. And then they added David Miller to the caravan for only 7.5 crore. These are all left-handers but also possess an impressive record against spin and might be separated by Badoni slotted in between. Abdul Samad and Shahbaz Ahmad are also great picks for the finishing touch. 

However, their choice of openers is dicey at best. Marsh could be seen opening alongside Markram. You can call it a compromise in exchange for a high-intent middle-order. 

Therefore, LSG have pumped their overseas resources into the top six with an all-India bowling line-up. Interesting! 

Probable XII: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ayush Badoni, David Miller, Shahbaz Ahamad, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Abdul Samad

Delhi Capitals

Delhi had another mixed auction. They signed some big players in both batting and bowling departments, picking the likes of KL Rahul, Harry Brook, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mitchell Starc and T Natarajan. However, they again didn’t solve their long-time all-rounder’s issue. Axar Patel and Starc are the only two players in their lot who can contribute as all-rounders, not counting Tristan Stubbs, given he has bowled only 33 overs in his 109-game-long T20 career. 

Hence, Delhi missed out on the likes of Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai and Glenn Phillips. The latter two here went for their base prices. The addition of Phillips would have also given their spin attack an all-round look which lacks an off-spin option, but now they are relying on Stubbs for that role. 

It was clear that DC were banking on the Impact Player rule to keep balance on their side. But even on that note, they can accommodate only five bowling options in their XII. 

The batting, though, has plenty of firepower. The likes of Ashutosh Sharma, Sameer Rizvi, Brook, and JFM have all “boom or bust” potential. DC’s batting line-up is perfect for KL Rahul to play the long game, but whether it is a boon or bane, only time will tell. 

It will also be interesting to see which two overseas batters they pick between JFM, Faf du Plessis, and Brook. 

Starc and Natarajan are valuable additions to the pace attack. They would rue not using the RTM card on Rasikh Dar for 6 crore. On the second day, they used it on Mukesh Kumar for 8 crore, which brought their purse down to 3.8 crore, the lowest in the auction at that point. Consequently, DC were outbid for Arshad Khan and Anshul Kamboj. Given their bench strength in the pace department, Starc and Natarajan’s form and fitness would be key to their season. 

Delhi didn't elevate their spin-bowling resources, barring the signing of the wrist-spinner Vipraj Nigam. Overall, despite all the work done at the auction, DC left a few gaps in their squad of 23.

Probable XII: KL Rahul, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel (wk), Harry Brook, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan

Rajasthan Royals

RR and SRH have the lowest squad strength at 20. With the lowest purse in the auction, Royals bought 14 players—four batters and 10 bowlers. Thus, they didn’t invest in an all-rounder again. Not being able to find a replacement for a match-winner like Jos Buttler can potentially threaten their season.

In the batter’s category, Nitish Rana was their most high-profile buy. They needed one more batter to have seven first-choice batters, but other signings, including the 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, indicate that the seventh batter would be Shubham Dubey, who made his IPL debut for RR in the 2024 season. The other option is the wicketkeeper backup, Kunal Singh Rathore. 

RR needed to reconstruct their bowling, and the India-dominant batting meant they could divide the bowling roles in the overseas lot. They went from Boult, Ashwin, Chahal to Jofra Archer, Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana, maintaining the same outlook but with different personnel. However, they are playing a gamble on Archer’s fitness, who is supposed to be their premier pacer.

They added Fazalhaq Farooqui, a decent replacement for Boult in case they miss a swing-bowling left-arm pacer upfront. Akash Madhwal, Tushar Deshpande and Kumar Kartikeya are other backups with decent IPL experience. They also added the 18-year-old Kwena Maphaka. 

Overall, nothing new with RR. They are the old wine in new glass. And would look to fill the spot of another premier batter in the next auction. 

Probable XII: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c/wk), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Jofra Archer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Sandeep Sharma, Akash Madhwal

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