IPL 2019: Ranking the overseas players of all 8 teams
According to BCCI's latest update, the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League will be held in India from March 23. There were a lot of speculations around where the tournament will happen because of the general elections in India during the month of May, however, the official confirmation is that the tournament is not going anywhere.
Now that the date and venue are finalized, the teams can start planning things for the mega event. The auction for IPL 2019 happened in December and some of the franchises have made a major overhaul to their squad for the new season.
Overseas players are always a big attraction in IPL and this year is going to be no different. In fact, IPL will have some exciting newcomers in the form of Sam Curran, Hardus Viljoen, Shimron Hetmyer, Oshane Thomas etc.
Without much ado, here we rank all the IPL teams based on the strength of their overseas players.
#8 Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians retained the core of the team for IPL 2019 and did not make any major signings at the 2019 IPL auction. Quinton de Kock was traded from Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lasith Malinga was bought at the auction for his base price.
Mumbai Indians have two good overseas openers in the form of Evin Lewis and de Kock. Both these players are expected to play a key role in IPL 2019. Despite his great record in IPL, Pollard had a quiet IPL 2018 for Mumbai. The form of Pollard is key to Mumbai Indians' success this season.
One of Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Lasith Malinga, and Jason Behrendorff will open the bowling alongside Jasprit Bumrah. However, looking at their overseas players, one may feel that they don't have adequate depth in the squad to win the IPL title.
Overseas players: Evin Lewis (WI), Kieron Pollard (WI), Ben Cutting (Aus), Mitchell McClenaghan (NZ), Adam Milne (NZ), Jason Behrendorff (Aus), Quinton de Kock (SA), and Lasith Malinga (SL).