IPL 2020: Ranking the fast bowlers of the 8 teams
IPL Auction 2020 took place on December 19 in Kolkata, and all the franchise owners and coaching staff came out of the event looking satisfied with the players they added to their squad. Only 62 of the 338 enlisted players were bought by the franchises, and hence, fierce bidding wars were seen during the event.
Pace bowlers received maximum attention during the auction as the franchises realised their importance. KKR shelled out a whopping ₹15.5 crore to secure the services of star pacer Pat Cummins, making him the most expensive overseas signing in the history of the IPL auctions.
Having already established the importance of pacers, let's take a look at the pace attacks of the various teams and rank them.
#8 Chennai Super Kings
Overseas Options: Lungi Ngidi, Josh Hazlewood, DJ Bravo, and Sam Curran
Indian Options: Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, KM Asif, and Monu Singh
This might come as a surprise to many. It's not that CSK doesn't have a decent pace attack, it's just that those of the other teams are better than theirs. Head Coach Stephen Fleming made it clear that their plans revolve around the spin-friendly track in Chennai.
CSK certainly strengthened their pace bowling lineup by signing Sam Curran for ₹5.5 crores. But how he will slot into the team remains a concern as CSK have a lot of eligible overseas player vying for a slot in the playing XI.
As for Josh Hazlewood, he's more of a Test match bowler and isn't the ideal backup option. He has picked up just eight wickets in the 7 T20Is he has played for Australia at a poor economy of 9.60 and doesn't have too many variations to succeed in the T20 format.
Lungi Ngidi is undoubtedly a great option, but again, CSK's overseas combination is such that they have to compromise on other areas to fit him in the team.
Coming to the Indian pacers, this is where CSK lack. Deepak Chahar is the only reasonable option available in their roster. Shardul Thakur has been very inconsistent, and expensive in the death.
Final Verdict: CSK has a decent pace attack that suits their home track in Chennai, but their lack of Indian backups can affect them in away games. They also lack a leader to spearhead their pace attack.
#7 Delhi Capitals
Overseas Options: Kagiso Rabada, Chris Woakes, Marcus Stoinis, Keemo Paul
Indian Options: Ishant Sharma, Avesh Khan, Mohit Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Harshal Patel
The Capitals had a pretty productive auction, and they addressed some long-standing issues with their squad.
That being said, their primary concern of signing a quality Indian pacer remains unfulfilled. Mohit Sharma is not a List-A buy with the pacer not having played competitive cricket since April 2019. Ishant Sharma doesn't have the knack to pick up wickets, and with not many Indian options, DC have to use up two overseas slots to get good quality fast bowlers in their playing XI.
When it comes to the overseas pacers, Kagiso Rabada and Keemo Paul are great options with Paul serving as backup for Rabada. But having released both Trent Boult and Chris Morris, they needed someone to partner Rabada, but Chris Woakes isn't the best option to do so.
In his short IPL career, Woakes proved to be way too expensive and didn't pick up enough wickets to justify the same. His 25 wickets in 18 games came at a poor economy rate of 9.24, and he has evolved into a longer format player. He doesn't have the variations to sustain in this format, and DC should've looked to get someone like Nathan Coulter-Nile instead.
Final Verdict: DC has someone to spearhead their pace attack, but they seem to lack options to partner him. The Indian pacers' list too could have been better.
#6 Sunrisers Hyderabad
Overseas Options: Billy Stanlake and Mitchell Marsh
Indian Options: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Basil Thampi, Vijay Shankar and T. Natarajan
Two seasons back, SRH's pace attack was the best in the league. Fast forward to the present; their pacers are certainly overshadowed by those from other teams, at least on paper.
First things first, SRH has never needed flashy overseas pacers because their Indian pacers always did the job for them. But given how their pacers performed last season, SRH should have signed an excellent overseas pacer to provide them with some backup.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar's form has seen a dip since his injury early this year, and he hasn't fully recovered since then. The likes of Siddharth Kaul and Sandeep Sharma too, didn't do well. Only Khaleel Ahmed got wickets for them last season, and even he hasn't had a good time since the IPL. T Natarajan should get some game-time next season as he has had a great domestic season for Tamil Nadu.
Final Verdict: SRH have a variety of Indian options at their disposal, but since most of them aren't in good form, one might wonder if they have enough backup to survive if their lead pacers don't have a good season.
#5 Kings XI Punjab
Overseas Options: Hardus Viljoen, Sheldon Cottrell, Chris Jordan, and Jimmy Neesham
Indian Options: Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Porel, and Harpreet Brar
Pace bowling was KXIP's Achilles heel last season as no one apart from Mohammed Shami managed to bring about the desired impact. With Anil Kumble at the reins, Punjab seems to have shored up their pace attack quite well, although some minor concerns remain.
Sheldon Cottrell was their biggest buy of the auction at ₹8.5 crore. Chris Jordan, who was signed for ₹ three crore is another shrewd pick as he is a specialist T20 player and has established himself in the national T20I setup. Jimmy Neesham is a handy option with the ball.
Hardus Viljoen is still an unsatisfactory backup, and they should have released him before the auction.
Having lost Ankit Rajpoot in a trade deal, Punjab should have looked to get a good Indian pacer to partner Shami. But they only signed Bengal pacer Ishan Porel and could have looked for some other bowler like Jaydev Unadkat during the auction.
Final Verdict: Punjab has a decent pace attack with a good set of overseas players. But the dearth in Indian options to support Shami could come back to hurt them later in the season.