The IPL 2020 auction was just as much of a rollercoaster as any T20 finale. 62 players, out of which 29 were overseas players, were sold in the auction. What happened in the auction? Who are the new faces? How do the teams look? All your questions answered in our IPL team analysis.
Chennai Super Kings
Players retained:
Karn Sharma, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Kedar Jadhav, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Monu Singh, MS Dhoni, M Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shane Watson, N Jagadeesan, Shardul Thakur, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu
New faces:
Josh Hazlewood, Sam Curran, Piyush Chawla, R Sai Kishore
The yellow giants got their hands on the two players who’ll shine on the Chennai pitch — Hazlewood and Curran.
Playing XI Prediction:
Watson, du Plessis, Raina, Rayudu, Dhoni (capt & wk), Jadhav, Jadeja, Bravo/Curran, Chahar, Chawla, Hazlewood/Ngidi
Strengths and Weaknesses:
The massive amount of experience in the team is overwhelming; but this spin-heavy team may struggle on spin-unfavourable grounds
Kings XI Punjab
Players retained:
Chris Gayle, Darshan Nalkande, Mayank Agarwal, K Gowtham, Hardus Viljoen, J Suchith, Harpreet Brar, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Mandeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb ur Rahman, M Ashwin, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Arshdeep Singh
New faces:
Tajinder Dhillon, Ravi Bishnoi, Chris Jordan, Prabhsimran Singh, Glenn Maxwell, James Neesham, Deepak Hooda, Sheldon Cottrell, Ishan Porel
The Kings XI got their playing XI in order quickly, but not spending more than ₹68.5 crore cost them a dependable bench.
Playing XI Prediction:
Rahul (capt & wk), Agarwal, Mandeep/Nair, Pooran, Maxwell, Sarfraz/Hooda, Gowtham, Mujeeb, Shami, Cottrell, Porel
Strengths and Weaknesses:
KL Rahul, Mayank, Gayle, Maxwell, and Pooran will make a great core batting lineup; fast bowling players might not be able to handle the pressure
Mumbai Indians
Players retained:
Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Rahul Chahar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell McCleneghan, Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult
New faces:
Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Digvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary
The team got a good replacement for Evin Lewis in Lynn and managed to get back-up for Malinga in Coulter-Nile.
Playing XI Prediction:
Rohit (capt), de Kock (wk), Suryakumar, Kishan (wk), Hardik, Krunal, Pollard, Chahar, Coulter-Nile/Malinga, Bumrah, Boult
Strengths and Weaknesses:
A very strong Indian core and a great overall Playing 11 with backups for each position; but a lack of experience in spin bowling area may hurt the team a bit
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Players retained:
AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Parthiv Patel, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal
New faces:
Josh Philippe, Shahbaz Ahamad, Kane Richardson, Isuru Udana, Pavan Deshpande, Chris Morris, Dale Steyn, Aaron Finch
Outbid several times by Kings XI and the Knight Riders, the Royal Challengers were forced to settle for second- or third-choice overseas players.
Playing XI Prediction:
Finch, Parthiv (wk), Kohli (capt), de Villiers, Moeen, Dube, Morris, Chahal, Umesh/Sundar, Saini, Siraj
Strengths and Weaknesses:
The holy trinity of battling lineups is RCB’s greatest strength; nobody to carry the baton down the batting lineup
Delhi Capitals
Players retained:
Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, R Ashwin, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Keemo Paul, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Sandeep Lamichhane, Shreyas Iyer
New faces:
Chris Woakes, Mohit Sharma, Jason Roy, Tushar Deshpande, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Shimron Hetmyer, Lalit Yadav
Outbid at four different occasions, the Capitals’ second and third choices might leave them hanging when it most counts.
Playing XI Prediction:
Dhawan, Rahane, Iyer, Pant (wk), Hetmyer, Stoinis/Woakes, Paul, Axar/Mishra, Ashwin, Rabada, Harshal
Strengths and Weaknesses:
A core young Indian batting group backed by a solid squad; overlapping slots may spoil the synergy of the team
Kolkata Knight Riders
Players retained:
Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Sunil Narine, Harry Gurney, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Siddhesh Lad
New faces:
Varun Chakravarthy, M Sidharth, Chris Green, Eoin Morgan, Rahul Tripathi, Pat Cummins, Nikhil Naik, Pravin Tam
be, Tom Banton
Despite KKR breaking their bank for Cummins, there is a lack of IPL experience in the bowling lineup.
Playing XI Prediction:
Tripathi, Narine, Gill, Karthik (capt & wk), Morgan, Russell, Rana, Cummins, Varun, Kuldeep, Warrier/Prasidh
Strengths and Weaknesses:
We’ll see some class bowling stocks on the Eden pitch; Indian batting lineup is not very promising
Rajasthan Royals
Players retained:
Ankit Rajpoot, Ben Stokes, Varun Aaron, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Sanju Samson, Mayank Markande, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Steven Smith,
New faces:
Kartik Tyagi, Anuj Rawat, Akash Singh, David Miller, Robin Uthappa, Jaydev Unadkat, Aniruddha Joshi, Andrew Tye, Tom Curran, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Oshane Thomas
The Royals got exactly what they wanted – good back-ups and low-key options. We also saw some heavy Under-19 investment from the team.
Playing XI Prediction:
Buttler (wk), Uthappa, Samson (wk), Smith, Stokes, Parag, Jaiswal/Tewatia, Rajpoot, Markande/Shreyas, Archer, Unadkat
Strengths and Weaknesses:
The settled overseas core of 4 players have the ability to carry the team on their shoulders; just like RCB, might suffer from a weak finishing problem
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Players retained:
Abhishek Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Billy Stanlake, David Warner, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Jonny Bairstow, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar
New faces:
Mitchell Marsh, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Sanjay Yadav, Abdul Samad, Sandeep Bawanaka, Fabian Allen
The Sunrisers got most of their players without a hitch and ended up spending just under ₹75 crores at the auction.
Playing XI Prediction:
Warner, Bairstow (wk), Garg, Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Allen/Nabi/Marsh, Rashid, Bhuvneshwar, Kaul, Khaleel
Strengths and Weaknesses:
No better opening better anywhere in IPL 2020; suffered from a weak finishing last season and no improvement this season either
Conclusion
If there’s one thing I know is guaranteed to happen in the upcoming IPL season is that everyone’s expectations and predictions are going to be blown out of the water, including our own IPL team analysis. Nobody expected Rajasthan Royals to win the first season; Kings XI Punjab’s biggest player David Miller isn’t even in the team anymore; and Virat Kohli won an unparalleled 973-run Orange Cap in 2016. After all, these surprises and upsets are what make watching, and betting on IPL so exciting. See you again in 2021.
Karn Sharma, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Kedar Jadhav, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Monu Singh, MS Dhoni, M Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shane Watson, N Jagadeesan, Shardul Thakur, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu
New faces:
Josh Hazlewood, Sam Curran, Piyush Chawla, R Sai Kishore
The yellow giants got their hands on the two players who’ll shine on the Chennai pitch — Hazlewood and Curran.
Playing XI Prediction:
Watson, du Plessis, Raina, Rayudu, Dhoni (capt & wk), Jadhav, Jadeja, Bravo/Curran, Chahar, Chawla, Hazlewood/Ngidi
Strengths and Weaknesses:
The massive amount of experience in the team is overwhelming; but this spin-heavy team may struggle on spin-unfavourable grounds
Kings XI Punjab
Players retained:
Chris Gayle, Darshan Nalkande, Mayank Agarwal, K Gowtham, Hardus Viljoen, J Suchith, Harpreet Brar, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Mandeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb ur Rahman, M Ashwin, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Arshdeep Singh
New faces:
Tajinder Dhillon, Ravi Bishnoi, Chris Jordan, Prabhsimran Singh, Glenn Maxwell, James Neesham, Deepak Hooda, Sheldon Cottrell, Ishan Porel
The Kings XI got their playing XI in order quickly, but not spending more than ₹68.5 crore cost them a dependable bench.
Playing XI Prediction:
Rahul (capt & wk), Agarwal, Mandeep/Nair, Pooran, Maxwell, Sarfraz/Hooda, Gowtham, Mujeeb, Shami, Cottrell, Porel
Strengths and Weaknesses:
KL Rahul, Mayank, Gayle, Maxwell, and Pooran will make a great core batting lineup; fast bowling players might not be able to handle the pressure
Mumbai Indians
Players retained:
Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Rahul Chahar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell McCleneghan, Quinton de Kock, Rohit Sharma, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult
New faces:
Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Digvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary
The team got a good replacement for Evin Lewis in Lynn and managed to get back-up for Malinga in Coulter-Nile.
Playing XI Prediction:
Rohit (capt), de Kock (wk), Suryakumar, Kishan (wk), Hardik, Krunal, Pollard, Chahar, Coulter-Nile/Malinga, Bumrah, Boult
Strengths and Weaknesses:
A very strong Indian core and a great overall Playing 11 with backups for each position; but a lack of experience in spin bowling area may hurt the team a bit
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Players retained:
AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Parthiv Patel, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal
New faces:
Josh Philippe, Shahbaz Ahamad, Kane Richardson, Isuru Udana, Pavan Deshpande, Chris Morris, Dale Steyn, Aaron Finch
Outbid several times by Kings XI and the Knight Riders, the Royal Challengers were forced to settle for second- or third-choice overseas players.
Playing XI Prediction:
Finch, Parthiv (wk), Kohli (capt), de Villiers, Moeen, Dube, Morris, Chahal, Umesh/Sundar, Saini, Siraj
Strengths and Weaknesses:
The holy trinity of battling lineups is RCB’s greatest strength; nobody to carry the baton down the batting lineup
Delhi Capitals
Players retained:
Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, R Ashwin, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Keemo Paul, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Sandeep Lamichhane, Shreyas Iyer
New faces:
Chris Woakes, Mohit Sharma, Jason Roy, Tushar Deshpande, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Shimron Hetmyer, Lalit Yadav
Outbid at four different occasions, the Capitals’ second and third choices might leave them hanging when it most counts.
Playing XI Prediction:
Dhawan, Rahane, Iyer, Pant (wk), Hetmyer, Stoinis/Woakes, Paul, Axar/Mishra, Ashwin, Rabada, Harshal
Strengths and Weaknesses:
A core young Indian batting group backed by a solid squad; overlapping slots may spoil the synergy of the team
Kolkata Knight Riders
Players retained:
Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Sunil Narine, Harry Gurney, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Siddhesh Lad
New faces:
Varun Chakravarthy, M Sidharth, Chris Green, Eoin Morgan, Rahul Tripathi, Pat Cummins, Nikhil Naik, Pravin Tam
be, Tom Banton
Despite KKR breaking their bank for Cummins, there is a lack of IPL experience in the bowling lineup.
Playing XI Prediction:
Tripathi, Narine, Gill, Karthik (capt & wk), Morgan, Russell, Rana, Cummins, Varun, Kuldeep, Warrier/Prasidh
Strengths and Weaknesses:
We’ll see some class bowling stocks on the Eden pitch; Indian batting lineup is not very promising
Rajasthan Royals
Players retained:
Ankit Rajpoot, Ben Stokes, Varun Aaron, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Sanju Samson, Mayank Markande, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Steven Smith,
New faces:
Kartik Tyagi, Anuj Rawat, Akash Singh, David Miller, Robin Uthappa, Jaydev Unadkat, Aniruddha Joshi, Andrew Tye, Tom Curran, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Oshane Thomas
The Royals got exactly what they wanted – good back-ups and low-key options. We also saw some heavy Under-19 investment from the team.
Playing XI Prediction:
Buttler (wk), Uthappa, Samson (wk), Smith, Stokes, Parag, Jaiswal/Tewatia, Rajpoot, Markande/Shreyas, Archer, Unadkat
Strengths and Weaknesses:
The settled overseas core of 4 players have the ability to carry the team on their shoulders; just like RCB, might suffer from a weak finishing problem
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Players retained:
Abhishek Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Billy Stanlake, David Warner, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Jonny Bairstow, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar
New faces:
Mitchell Marsh, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Sanjay Yadav, Abdul Samad, Sandeep Bawanaka, Fabian Allen
The Sunrisers got most of their players without a hitch and ended up spending just under ₹75 crores at the auction.
Playing XI Prediction:
Warner, Bairstow (wk), Garg, Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Allen/Nabi/Marsh, Rashid, Bhuvneshwar, Kaul, Khaleel
Strengths and Weaknesses:
No better opening better anywhere in IPL 2020; suffered from a weak finishing last season and no improvement this season either
Conclusion
If there’s one thing I know is guaranteed to happen in the upcoming IPL season is that everyone’s expectations and predictions are going to be blown out of the water, including our own IPL team analysis. Nobody expected Rajasthan Royals to win the first season; Kings XI Punjab’s biggest player David Miller isn’t even in the team anymore; and Virat Kohli won an unparalleled 973-run Orange Cap in 2016. After all, these surprises and upsets are what make watching, and betting on IPL so exciting. See you again in 2021.
