With only 4 personnel changes from last year, 1 of which involves a replacement, SRH are the epitome of stability and continuity this year. Another interesting fact of SRH’s line-up is that only 2 players are purchased for the minimum base price of 20 lakhs.
RCB released 10 players before the auction and added 10 new players to their roster, the highest among of all teams. It doesn’t take an eagle’s eye to see that these are actions of a team desperate to win. Desperation is good, it makes one hungry for success, but in all fairness, the same amount of desperation, if not more, has been there in RCB for quite some time now.
In the analysis of Kolkata Knight Riders, I mentioned that the purchase of Shakib al Hasan was one of the smartest buys of this year’s auction. Another one of those smart buys would be that of Shivam Dube by Rajasthan Royals. An Indian all-rounder on an upward trajectory, with a healthy SR in batting as well as bowling is a good luxury to have in IPL. But RR’s auction wasn’t all roses and lilies.
Having released 9 players in the off season, Punjab Kings, or Kings XI Punjab as they were known then, were always going to be “active” at the auction. But having splurged on individuals, they have shot themselves in the foot by limiting the balance of their roster. Es, 5.25 crore for someone with the promise of Shark Khan is justified, but I’m appalled by the PBKS spending.
Barring any last minute injuries, and the known absence of Quinton de Kock for the first game, MI will play the same playing XI from last year. And why wouldn’t they? That playing XI, at least the majority of them, won them 2 back-to-back titles. Again, their auction activity was restricted to buy backups or buy back, in case of Nathan Coulter Nile.
KKR kept mostly quiet in the auction, looking to fill up spots on their bench and buying efficient backups for their core. It looks like a well-balanced team which should see continuity in their playing XI as compared to the previous season.
It has been characteristic of the Delhi franchisee over many auctions – they try their hand at almost more players than any other franchisee. Even before that, they end up releasing a lot of players and therefore having to buy a lot of players in the auction to fill the roster. In fairness, this year, all they released and subsequently purchased were backups to their otherwise continued core. A small glance at their activity during the auction and one quickly realises that all they were looking out for were backups and unsurprisingly, they did not purchase any player for an exuberantly high price.
Chennai Super Kings had a relatively quiet and predictable auction in which they looked to fill their ‘perceived’ gaps in the all-rounder department and add a batsman or two. I say ‘perceived’ because personally, I don’t feel they needed any more all-rounders than the ones they had, certainly not at the eventual price tag.
The IPL is designed to NOT have calm waters for too long – there is a mega auction that happens after every 3 seasons, with one to happen before the
SRH have more or less the same squad as last year. But, for some reason, this squad looks a little weaker. It could be due to the conditions that are on offer in UAE as opposed to ones in Hyderabad (and Rest of India). Overall, the SRH side should be competitive but lack a little in the batting department, as is the case with quite a lot of teams, surprisingly.