IPL 2021 Auction: Rating the complete squad of each franchise
What's the story
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 Auction was held on Thursday as teams addressed the holes in their respective squads. 57 slots were filled out of the 61 available for the eight franchises. Now with a complete squad on offer, teams will hope to make things count and look at the specific roles issued to players. Here we rate the squad of each team.
Rating: 9.5/10
MI have all the attributes needed to continue dominance
Five-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians have majority of their squad available. They needed to buy foreign pacers after releasing a handful and that has been addressed. The spin department gets depth with the inclusion of Piyush Chawla. The champions have a settled batting line-up and quality all-rounders to finish off games. With a winning mentality and the consistency factor riding, MI are the favorites.
MI
Presenting the complete squad of Mumbai Indians
Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anmolpreet Singh, Aditya Tare (wk), Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Anukul Roy, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan, Adam Milne, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, James Neesham, Yudhvir Charak, Marco Jansen, Arjun Tendulkar.
Rating: 7.5/10
Punjab Kings have a decent squad on offer
Punjab Kings had a crucial mini-auction and the squad looks better now with the inclusion of quality pacers. Punjab have a strong batting unit and they have got in a finisher in the form of Tamil Nadu's Shahrukh Khan. The pace department is solid with quality foreign stars. However, there is a lack of depth in spin. Also, certain roles of batsmen need changing.
Punjab Kings
Presenting Punjab Kings' complete squad
Squad: KL Rahul (c & wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Prabsimran Singh, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Harpreet Brar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Porel, Darshan Nalkande, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Jhye Richardson, Shahrukh Khan, Riley Meredith, Moises Henriques, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Fabian Allen, Saurabh Kumar.
Rating 7.5/10
KKR look heavy in all-round and spin departments
Kolkata Knight Riders bought Shakib Al Hasan and Ben Cutting to add more firepower in their all-round department. The team will no longer need to just depend on Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. The spin quartet gets heavier with experienced campaigners like Harbhajan Singh and Pawan Negi. The batting has the usual presence but a quality player to support Shubman Gill atop is missing.
KKR
Presenting KKR's complete squad
Squad: Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Tim Seifert (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Eoin Morgan (c), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun CV, Kuldeep Yadav, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, Karun Nair, Harbhajan Singh, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer, Pawan Negi.
Rating: 8/10
SRH have a solid squad with plenty of base
Sunrisers Hyderabad will once again look at the experienced stars for giving their batting the desired look. Having strong all-rounders like Mitchell Marsh and Jason Holder gives SRH the onus in finishing games. What separates SRH from several teams is their dream bowling attack. It's a settled side and the consistency factor is what will help them in IPL 2021.
SRH
Presenting SRH's complete squad
Squad: David Warner (c), Kane Williamson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Sreevats Goswami (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Virat Singh, Mitchell Marsh, Jason Holder, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul, Basil Thampi, Jagadeesha Suchith, Kedar Jadhav, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman.
Rating: 8/10
Chennai Super Kings to bank on experience
Chennai Super Kings had already retained their main core and the auction was about getting more depth. The inclusion of Moeen Ali adds more variety in their star-studded all-round department. CSK have their strengths in bowling and the comeback of Suresh Raina brings more quality in the top-order. Overall, CSK can do well given all the experience the team possesses.
CSK
Presenting the complete squad of CSK
Squad: Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, N. Jagadeesan (wk), Robin Uthappa, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, R. Sai Kishore, Mitchell Santner, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi, Josh Hazlewood, KM Asif, Moeen Ali, K Gowtham, Cheteshwar Pujara, M Harisankar Reddy, K. Bhagath Varma, C Hari Nishanth.
Rating: 9/10
Delhi Capitals look sorted once again
Last season's finalists Delhi Capitals have the desired attributes to do well once again. The side is filled with quality across all three departments. The addition of Steve Smith and Sam Billings bring more character in the batting. The pace-bowling sector gets the desired lift as well. Chris Woakes, who missed out last season, could be helpful. DC have powerful performers everywhere.
DC
Presenting the complete squad of DC
Squad: Shreyas Iyer (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Woakes, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Avesh Khan, Steve Smith, Umesh Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod, Lukman Meriwala, M Siddarth, Tom Curran Sam Billings.
Rating: 7.5/10
RCB will hope to see Maxwell come good
The Royal Challengers Bangalore spent Rs. 14.25 crore on the misfiring Glenn Maxwell and the expectations will be huge. If Maxwell can rediscover his touch, then RCB can gain big. The inclusion of Kyle Jamieson for Rs. 15 crore is another name that will get fans excited. He could be a match-winner. RCB's bowling is covered and the batting has its plus.
RCB
Presenting the complete squad of RCB
Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Josh Philippe (wk), AB de Villiers (wk), Pavan Deshpande, Washington Sundar, Daniel Sams, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Kane Richardson, Harshal Patel, Glenn Maxwell, Sachin Baby, Rajat Patidar, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Kyle Jamieson, Daniel Christian, Suyash Prabhudessai, K.S. Bharat.
Rating: 7/10
Can RR perform well this season?
Rajasthan Royals broke the record after making Chris Morris the most expensive signing ever. He will have an important role to play. RR have their four established foreigners but the work needs to be handled well by the Indian contingent. That's where Royals lack the bite. Sanju Samson will be tested as a captain, also there are certain issues in batting.
RR
Presenting the complete squad of RR
Squad: Sanju Samson (c & wk), Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Stokes, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Manan Vohra, Anuj Rawat, Riyan Parag, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Shreyas Gopal, Mayank Markande, Jofra Archer, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya, KC Cariappa, Liam Livingstone, Kuldip Yadav, Akash Singh.