IPL 2020 Auction: Strongest possible XI of all eight teams
The IPL 2020 auction was a pretty eventful affair as the teams put their best foot forward and looked to plug the gaps in their squad ahead of the upcoming season.
While teams like the Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad were relatively quiet and made only a few purchases, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals who had quite a few slots to fill. The teams seem to have done reasonably well in forming strong squads with the limited options that were available on the day.
With a little over 60 players picked across the eight franchises, there is going to be a lot of analysis about the way the eight teams could lineup. Here is the list of the strongest possible XIs of all the eight teams in an approach to understand how these teams might line-up in IPL 2020.
#8 Rajasthan Royals
Squad
Batsman: Jos Buttler (wk), Steve Smith, Sanju Samson (wk), Manan Vohra, Robin Uthappa, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat (wk), David Miller.
All-rounders: Ben Stokes, Mahipal Lomror, Shashank Singh, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia.
Spinners: Shreyas Gopal, Mayank Markande, Anirudha Joshi.
Fast bowlers: Jofra Archer, Ankit Rajpoot, Varun Aaron, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Kartik Tyagi, Oshane Thomas, Tom Curran, Andrew Tye.
Robin Uthappa was perhaps the most significant buy for Rajasthan Royals. Uthappa's years of experience playing on the Indian pitches will be crucial to the Royals' chances in the absence of former skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who was traded to Delhi Capitals.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, who created quite a stir with his pyrotechnics at the top order, might have to wait a little for his IPL debut. David Miller was one of their best bargain buys at a price of just ₹75 lakh.
The Royals did manage to get in T20 specialist pacers Andrew Tye and Tom Curran in the final stages of the auction. Still, it will be interesting to see how they slot in either of them in the playing XI owing to an already strong overseas contingent.
Strongest XI: Jos Buttler (wk), Robin Uthappa, Sanju Samson, Steve Smith (c), Ben Stokes, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, Mayank Markande, Jaydev Unadkat, Ankit Rajpoot.
#7 Kings XI Punjab
Squad
Batsmen: KL Rahul (wk), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Mandeep Singh, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Nicholas Pooran (wk), Sarfaraz Khan
All-rounders: Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda, James Neesham, K. Gowtham, Darshan Nalkande.
Spinners: Murugan Ashwin, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, J. Suchith, Harpreet Brar, Ravi Bishnoi, Tajinder Dhillon
Fast bowlers: Mohammed Shami, Hardus Viljoen, Arshdeep Singh, Sheldon Cottrell, Ishan Porel, Chris Jordan
Kings XI Punjab have managed to assemble arguably the most destructive batting line-up among all the teams. KL Rahul, who will captain the side in the upcoming season, could open the innings alongside Chris Gayle.
The in-form Mayank Agarwal and Nicholas Pooran will form a potent middle-order along with Glenn Maxwell. Maxwell was one of the biggest buys of this year's auction at ₹10.75 Crore, and he will be keen to turn out for Punjab yet again.
KXIP's pace department has also got a new look with the inclusion of Ishan Porel and Sheldon Cottrell. However, the lack of quality spinning options might hurt the side later on in the tournament.
Strongest XI: KL Rahul (c), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda, K Gowtham, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Ishan Porel, Sheldon Cottrell.
#6 Sunrisers Hyderabad
Squad
Batsmen: David Warner, Kane Williamson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Sreevats Goswami (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Sanjay Yadav
All-rounders: Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Mitchell Marsh, Sandeep Bavanaka, Abdul Samad, Vijay Shankar, Fabian Allen
Spinners: Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem
Fast bowlers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Basil Thampi, T. Natarajan, Billy Stanlake
Sunrisers Hyderabad did not have much to do at the auction. They did not release too many players before the auctions and thus did not have too many gaps to fill in. Although, their fragile middle-order was a bit of a worry for the team management.
They tried to address that issue by including Virat Singh and Pritam Garg. The team will be expecting big things from Virat Singh in particular. Virat has been a consistent performer for Jharkhand over the years and can score quick runs in the latter half of the innings.
The Sunrisers will want more from the likes of Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar this time around, both of whom have been in good form recently.
Strongest XI: David Warner, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Manish Pandey, Virat Singh, Abhishek Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddharth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed
#5 Delhi Capitals
Squad
Batsmen: Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Jason Roy, Rishabh Pant (wk), Alex Carey (wk), Shimron Hetmyer
All-rounders: Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Chris Woakes, Marcus Stoinis, Keemo Paul, Lalit Yadav
Spinners: R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Sandeep Lamichhane
Fast Bowlers: Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Avesh Khan, Mohit Sharma, Tushar Deshpande
One team that seems to have all bases covered is the Delhi Capitals. The Capitals had already made the most of the trade window by roping in the experienced duo of Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin, and they consolidated further by making some smart choices at the auction.
They went in aggressively for the signature of West Indies power-hitter Shimron Hetmyer to strengthen the middle-order that already features Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant. In Jason Roy, Alex Carey and Chris Woakes, Delhi Capitals got three players who can easily walk into the playing XI with their variety of skills.
With many options at their disposal and a balanced squad, Delhi Capitals will go in the tournament as one of the favourites to win the title. While Ajinkya Rahane does offer a lot in terms of experience, it remains to see how he fits in the playing XI.
Strongest XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Chris Woakes, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma.