What we can expect on Day 2
Chennai Super Kings: They splurged on getting Deepak Chahar back, perhaps rightfully so. They still need some solid bowling options, and there’s plenty overseas to pick from. Expect them to target two overseas bowlers. If one of them can bat, all the better. The batting looks okay, with Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja.
Delhi Capitals: A top four that’s mouth-watering. Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Rishabh Pant. There’s good supporting talent in KS Bharat and Sarfaraz Khan. They have bowlers who can bat in Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur and even Kamlesh Nagarkoti. Their two spinners are Axar and Kuldeep Yadav, so a right-arm offspinner maybe needed. One more strike bowler to partner Anrich Nortje wouldn’t be amiss either.
Gujarat Titans: They’ve picked up only 10 players. But most of those are first XI candidates. They do need to shore up the batting though. Only Jason Roy and Shubman Gill are the established batters, with Abhinav Manohar exciting but untested. Hardik Pandya can wield a mean willow of course. But they’ll probably need some batting cover. The bowling looks solid with Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Sai Kishore and Noor Ahmad. Tewatia could be the balancing factor. Most crucially, they don’t yet have a wicketkeeper in the squad.
Kolkata Knight Riders: They’ve bought only 9 players, and while their bowling is solid, they need some more batting options. Among established batters, they have only the Iyers – Venkatesh and Shreyas, and Nitish Rana. Their only keeping option is Sheldon Jackson, so they might want some more of that.
Lucknow Super Giants: A potential top seven of Rahul, QdK, Pandey, Hooda, Stoinis, Krunal and Holder looks really solid. They went hard for Mark Wood, but given his injury history, will want some cover. The problem is, they have only 6.90 crore left, and only 11 players picked. They need 7 more – the minimum squad size is 18 – and because of their budget, need to pick a lot of them at base price. Or all of them.
Mumbai Indians: It was almost as if Mumbai came on Day 1 with just one agenda: Get back Ishan Kishan. They did that. But they have only 8 players, so 10 more to pick. They do have a healthy budget though, because they didn’t really buy much other than Kishan. Because of the already strong core, they still look in good shape. They need bowling back up for Bumrah though. The overseas picks could provide that.
Punjab Kings: They’ve got a solid top three in Dhawan, Agarwal and Bairstow. The middle order has some promising, but still raw candidates. The bowling looks in fairly decent shape with Rabada complemented by Arshdeep, Rahul Chahar and Harpreet Brar, as well as Ishan Porel.
Rajasthan Royals: They came in wanting to get a full bowling attack, and acquired Chahal, Ashwin, Boult and Prasidh Krishna. They also got Shimron Hetmyer, so all in all, will be feeling pleased with how the day went.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: They went big on two of their old players, Hasaranga and Harshal, and got them both. Dinesh Karthik at the price he came was a bit of a bargain. Perhaps the one thing they might want is explosive power with the bat up top, although an Anuj Rawat could grow into that role.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: They got back a lot of their young stars in Abhishek Sharma, Priyam Garg and Natarajan. They also got back Bhuvneshwar. The batting might still be brittle, depending on the condition of Kane Williamson’s elbow.
How teams stand at the end of Day 1
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Robin Uthappa, KM Asif, Tushar Deshpande [Players bought: 10. Budget remaining: 20.45 crore. Overseas players: 2]
Delhi Capitals: David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, KS Bharat, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Mustafizur Rahman, Ashwin Hebbar [Players bought: 13. Budget remaining: 16.50 crore. Overseas players: 4]
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill, Jason Roy, Abhinav Manohar, Hardik Pandya, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Lockie Ferguson, R Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad [Players bought: 10. Budget remaining: 18.85 crore. Overseas players: 4]
Kolkata Knight Riders: Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer, Sheldon Jackson, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy [Players bought: 9. Budget remaining: 12.65 crore. Overseas players: 3]
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mark Wood, Ankit Rajpoot [Players bought: 11. Budget remaining: 6.90 crore. Overseas players: 4]
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Kieron Pollard, Jasprit Bumrah, M Ashwin, Basil Thampi [Players bought: 8. Budget remaining: 27.85 crore. Overseas players: 2]
Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Jonny Bairstow, Jitesh Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Porel [Players bought: 11. Budget remaining: 28.65 crore. Overseas players: 2]
Rajasthan Royals: Devdutt Padikkal, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna, KC Cariappa [Players bought: 11. Budget remaining: 12.15 crore. Overseas players: 3]
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Josh Hazlewood, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep [Players bought: 11. Budget remaining: 9.25 crore. Overseas players: 4]
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Kane Williamson, Nicholas Pooran, Priyam Garg, Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, J Suchith, Shreyas Gopal, Kartik Tyagi, T Natarajan, Umran Malik [Players bought: 13. Budget remaining: 20.15 crore. Overseas players: 2]
