What is each IPL team looking for at the auction?
With the new teams announcing their picks and the original teams having announced their retentions, the IPL’s mega auction is perfectly poised. With a new format around the corner, teams will be looking to reinvent themselves at the start of a new era for the league. So, what will each team be looking for at the auction?
Chennai Super Kings
CSK retained Jadeja, Dhoni, Moeen, and Gaikwad. The gaping hole in this team for the past few years has been a raw, fast pace bowler. Thakur, Chahar, Hazlewood, Curran, and Ngidi are all talented bowlers but lack the flat-out pace that every other team has. There are a lot of options up for auction that could fix this problem-Mark Wood, Marchant De Lange, Lockie Ferguson, Chris Jordan, David Willey, Pat Cummins, Saqib Mahmood, Adam Milne, Trent Boult, Kagiso Rabada, and Riley Meredith.
CSK will also need to replace Faf du Plessis at the top of the order if they can’t get him back. The main requirements will be experienced (to guide Gaikwad), explosive from ball one, and able to remove a build-up of pressure. The main options are Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner, Evin Lewis, Jason Roy, Chris Lynn, Aaron Finch, Colin Munro, Jonny Bairstow, and D’Arcy Short. However, as a CSK fan, I would love to see Alex Hales pad up for the Super Kings because he has proved himself in other leagues around the world and he is hungry to prove himself to the England selectors.
Dehli Capitals
Delhi’s retentions of Shaw, Pant, Axar, and Nortje allow them to cover more ground across the board but they lose key pieces such as Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravi Ashwin, and Kagiso Rabada. If they don't bring these guys back, there are 2 main problems that they will need to fix.
The first problem is that they have no one to control the pace of the innings with Rahane, Smith, Stoinis, and Iyer all gone, they lack an experienced player who can bat the whole innings, soaking up pressure. They could look into Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Dawid Malan, Eoin Morgan, Manish Pandey, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan, Aiden Markram, Devon Conway, Marnus Labuschagne, Rassie van der Dussen, and Roston Chase. One player I didn't mention is my favorite England batter, James Vince, who thoroughly deserves an IPL contract (and an England one but that's a conversation for another day). He fits all of the criteria and has shown he can perform under pressure in the late stages of tournaments for the Sydney Sixers.
The second problem is death bowling, they lost their last 3 games of the 2021 IPL in the final over. Losing Rabada is a big blow for all stages of the innings but there are replacements out there such as Bhuveneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, DJ Bravo, Josh Hazlewood, Mustafizur Rahman, T Natarajan, Andrew Tye, James Faulkner, and Tymal Mills.
Kolkata Knight Riders
KKR lost a lot of batting and their true pace bowlers. They also lost a wicketkeeper. To replace Dinesh Karthik, I suggest these 5-Josh Phillipe, Quinton de Kock, Matthew Wade, Glenn Phillips, and Sam Billings.
For the pace bowler, they could go down many routes but I think they will mainly need an opening bowler. Their options are Bhuveneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Trent Boult, Ishant Sharma, Kane Richardson, Tim Southee, and Prasidh Krishna.
Finally, KKR was prone to collapses last season. Their top 8 for the final was Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer opening (an unexperienced duo), Nitish Rana (too inconsistent with no international experience), Eoin Morgan, Shakib al Hasan, and Dinesh Karthik (out of form), Rahul Tripathi (similar to Rana), and Sunil Narine (mainly a pinch hitter, out of form). This lineup was set up to collapse. They need to bring in a player who can bat the innings and control the tempo. If they get De Kock or Billings they will need to look for one more batsman to bat long. However, if they don't pick up one of those two they will need to pick from this list: Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Dawid Malan, Manish Pandey, Ishan Kishan, Aiden Markram, Devon Conway, Marnus Labuschagne, Rassie van der Dussen, and Roston Chase.
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai lost a lot of talent due to the limit on retentions. These are only some of the players they had to let go of, Quinton de Kock, Trent Boult, Jimmy Neesham, Ishan Kishan, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, and Adam Milne. The main roles available on the team are a specialist spinner and a wicketkeeper.
There is a surplus of spinners in this draft and Mumbai will splash the cash to make sure they get a wicket-taker. Their options include Ravi Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Adil Rashid, Ashton Agar, Imran Tahir, Mujeeb Zadran, Shakib al Hasan, Nathan Lyon, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Santner, and Tabraiz Shamsi. One player that I would love to see on Mumbai or any other team is Wanindu Hasaranga. He has proven that he takes wickets in the short form, he has many variations, and he is very handy with the bat.
Mumbai may search for another wicketkeeper but I believe they should look no further than a player they had last season, and I don't mean de Kock. Mumbai should push to get back Ishan Kishan. With Kishan, Surya, and Bumrah, Mumbai can ensure that their dynasty can come back once again with a bright future.
Punjab Kings
Punjab cleaned house and left Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh. This left a lot of cap space and many roles ready to be filled. They are missing a keeper, a finished, an all-rounder, a raw pace bowler, and a specialist spinner. Instead of going through each of these roles, I suggest Punjab should go big on a few superstars and make a push for the title this year. Here are my suggestions for some superstars they could pick up, Ishan Kishan, Ravi Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, David Warner, Faf du Plessis, Jason Roy, Kagiso Rabada, Mitchell Marsh, Pat Cummins, Quinton de Kock, Steve Smith, Shakib al Hasan, Trent Boult, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Liam Livingstone.
Whatever they do, Punjab needs to look to take advantage of a new format and put together a team of stars that can win as soon as possible before the league settles again. They are the only team that retained 2 players, so they are set up for a huge auction.
Rajasthan Royals
The Royals have one of the weirdest batting lineups in recent history. They either hit 220+ comfortably or struggle to scrape 100. The reason for this was mainly the reliance on Buttler, Stokes, and Samson, but with Buttler missing last year and Stokes being out for most of the season, Rajasthan was exposed and only succeeded when Samson batted well. The silver lining in this situation was that they found a gem in Yashasvi Jaiswal and have retained him alongside Buttler and Samson. Another problem they had is their death bowling. So, the Royals need to look for a death bowler and a solid middle-order batsman.
The best death bowlers available are Bhuveneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, DJ Bravo, Josh Hazlewood, Mustafizur Rahman, T Natarajan, Andrew Tye, James Faulkner, and Tymal Mills.
To sort out their middle overs problem, they could look towards Matthew Wade, Mitchell Marsh, Sam Billings, Steve Smith, Shakib al Hasan, Glenn Phillips, Jimmy Neesham, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Nitish Rana, Colin de Grandhomme, Mohammad Nabi, Rassie van der Dussen, and Moises Henriques.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
RCB has always struggled but when they have found their rare success, they have relied on two men, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. With de Villiers gone and Kohli out of form, RCB needs someone to fall back on when the going gets tough. Maxwell played well last season but there is no guaranteeing that he won’t return to the form that he had in Punjab. The main player I would love to see RCB go after is Jonny Bairstow as he has shown time after time that he is the reliable player that can go big at the end of the innings. Obviously, he’s not ABD but he’s probably the next best thing.
With the loss of Bharat as well, RCB needs a keeper. There are 4 main options if they don’t regain Bharat and they are Quinton de Kock, Matthew Wade, Ishan Kishan, and Sam Billings.
RCB also needs a strong bowling attack, as that is what has always let them down. With Maxwell and Siraj confirmed for next season, they will be looking to get at least 3 more bowlers with 1 all-rounder. I think they should bring Harshal Patel back but he will be a big fish in this year's auction after his performance last year. To fill those 3 remaining spots, they need a specialist spinner or a bowling all-rounder who bowls spin so that they have a strong enough spin attack.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sunrisers have completely cleaned out as well, retaining Williamson and Samad, whilst questionable keeping Samad. With Warner and Bhuveneshwar Kumar gone, Sunrisers need some experienced, winning DNA in the team and even though Raina has become quite predictable, it would be good to see him get a farewell season in the IPL. If they don't want to go for Raina, they could go for, Ambati Rayudu, Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, DJ Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Shakib al Hasan, Aaron Finch, Ajinkya Rahane, and Eoin Morgan.
They will also need a specialist spinner. Samad is not experienced enough to be their main spinner so a few options are Ravi Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Adil Rashid, Ashton Agar, Imran Tahir, Wanindu Hasaranga, Mujeeb Zadran, Shakib al Hasan, Nathan Lyon, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Santner, and Tabraiz Shamsi.
Ahmedabad and Lucknow
Ahmedabad and Lucknow will most likely have similar auction strategies to Punjab, trying to start new by making a big entrance. If one of these teams can get an early win, they can set the tone for the new era and attract the best in the world. Here is a list of players they may pick from, Ishan Kishan, Ravi Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, David Warner, Faf du Plessis, Jason Roy, Kagiso Rabada, Mitchell Marsh, Pat Cummins, Quinton de Kock, Steve Smith, Shakib al Hasan, Trent Boult, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Liam Livingstone.
