The 2017 IPL auction is set to take place in few days’ time and the IPL franchises will be having their task cut out in sorting out the players who will fit in their system. As many as 140 cricketers including 44 overseas players have been retained by the franchises for 2017 season.
This year’s auction has more than 300 players going under the hammer out of which a maximum of 76 cricketers can be picked by all the eight teams. The representatives of each franchise will be aware of who they need in their teams going into the auction. Let us take a look at one player who will make a particular team complete.
This year’s auction has some English flavour to it as few England cricketers are set to feature in it. Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Imran Tahir, Kevin Pietersen, Irfan Pathan etc. are some of the names that will be on the wish list of the franchises.
It won’t be a surprise if the franchises decide to go for a bidding war to buy all-rounder Ben Stokes as he is a captain’s dream and can excel in all the three departments. This is how the franchises go into the 2017 auctions.
Team | Purse Spent | Balance Purse | Total Players in the squad | Overseas Players |
DD | 445,000,000 | 215,000,000 | 18 | 5 |
KXIP | 426,500,000 | 233,500,000 | 19 | 5 |
KKR | 462,500,000 | 197,500,000 | 14 | 4 |
MI | 544,450,000 | 115,550,000 | 20 | 6 |
RCB | 531,750,000 | 128,250,000 | 20 | 8 |
SRH | 451,000,000 | 209,000,000 | 17 | 5 |
RPS | 469,000,000 | 191,000,000 | 16 | 5 |
GL | 516,500,000 | 143,500,000 | 16 | 6 |
Note: Ben Stokes is someone who will be sought after by all the 8 teams. So, we are not considering him as an option for any team in the following slideshow.
Delhi Daredevils: Corey Anderson
The perennial under-achievers in the IPL, Delhi Daredevils, who are yet to reach the finals even once in the past nine seasons have the habit of tinkering with their line-up every single season. Even this season, they released the likes of Nathan Coulter-Nile, Imran Tahir and Pawan Negi and will look to get some worthy replacements.
They have a decent batting line-up with the likes of Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson among the others. Their bowling will be spearheaded by Mohammad Shami and one of the most successful IPL bowler ever, Amit Mishra alongside Jayant Yadav, Zaheer Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem etc. With a lack of depth in the pace bowling department, the team from Delhi might opt for a seam-bowling all-rounder rather than a frontline pacer.
The team management will look to splash their money on a good all-rounder to back Chris Morris and Carlos Brathwaite. Just like every other team, Delhi will look to buy Ben Stokes and if they fail to do so, Corey Anderson will be one name the Rahul Dravid led management will look to acquire.
Anderson is a proven match winner in this format and will be a great addition to the squad. If they want to go with an Indian player, Irfan Pathan is the name that will be on top of their purchase list.
Gujarat Lions: Pawan Negi
Gujarat had a very good debut season last year as they finished second in the points table but couldn’t make it to the finals after losing to Royal Challengers Bangalore and eventual champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in the qualifier and the eliminator respectively.
Ahead of the 2017 auction, they released few utility players and still, they have a decent squad that is capable of going all the way in the tournament. They have one of the most dangerous top order with Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch and Suresh Raina forming the top 3 followed by the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Ishan Kishan etc.
They have a couple of world-class fast bowling all-rounders and a good bunch of pacers. The only area which they will look to strengthen is their spin bowling as they don’t have a good spinner to support India’s Ravindra Jadeja. With a limited number of spinners available in the auction, the Lions team management will go all out and buy Pawan Negi, who was the costliest buy in the last auction.
Kings XI Punjab: Morne Morkel
Kings XI Punjab are one of the most inconsistent sides in the history of IPL as the team owned by Preity Zinta have not played to their potential in the past barring the edition in which they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders in the finals.
The outfit from Punjab looks mediocre and has a better batting line-up when compared to their bowling department. Their priority ahead of the 2017 auction will be someone who could lead their pace attack as they released Mitchell Johnson and Kyle Abbott from their squad and are left with Sandeep Sharma and Mohit Sharma as the frontline pacers.
With Punjab likely to play their home matches at Mohali, where there will be some assistance for the fast bowlers, the team will like to spend their money on someone who is capable of bowling fast and extract bounce from the wicket. Looking at the list of players available for the auction, Morne Morkel is one name that suits the bill perfectly and it won’t be a surprise if Zinta goes all out to land the South African pacer in her team.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Irfan Pathan
Two-time Champions Kolkata Knight Riders have one of the most balanced playing XIs going into the 2017 IPL auction. The team management has released all the surplus members they had last season and have only 14 members going into the auction.
It is very obvious that they will buy a few utility players as a back-up for their core and at the same time, their priority will be an Indian pacer as they have only Umesh Yadav in their ranks. The auction pool features few decent Indian fast bowlers who meet all the expectations that are set by the Gautam Gambhir-led outfit.
Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Varun Aaron are few names that will be in the minds of the Kolkata Knight Riders’ think tank. It is a well-known fact that the Men in Purple like two-dimensional players and it won’t be a surprise if they decide to pursue Irfan Pathan in the upcoming IPL auction as he is still one of the best seam bowling all-rounders in India.
Mumbai Indians: Jason Roy
Mumbai Indians are yet another team that will be going to the IPL auction with a balanced squad. The Mukesh Ambani-owned franchise has retained the majority of the team that played in the 2016 edition.
They have covered all their bases and will look to buy a good opener to partner Rohit Sharma at the top. They already have Parthiv Patel and Lendl Simmons in the squad, but might go after an aggressive batsman who can score runs at a quicker pace as Rohit tends to take some time to settle down before going for the kill.
In that case, Jason Roy is someone who exactly does that for England. In spite of being vulnerable against the spinners, Roy is likely to be one of the most sought after players at the auction and the two-time champions will look to poach him ahead of the tenth edition.
Rising Pune Supergiants: John Hastings
Rising Pune Supergiants didn’t have a memorable inaugural edition in 2016 as they finished in the seventh position. This is MS Dhoni’s lowest finish ever in the first nine editions of the IPL.
Ahead of the 2017 auction, the newbies have released quite a few players and retained only the core of the team that played last season. They have a decent batting line-up that includes the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Faf du Plessis, Steve Smith, Dhoni etc.
Their bowling, especially the fast bowling department is their nemesis as MS Dhoni’s men don’t have someone who can lead the pace attack. Stephan Fleming will look to buy an International pacer from leading the attack.
There are quite a few names available for the Pune franchise as the likes of Mitchell Johnson, Tymal Mills, Trent Boult, Morne Morkel, John Hastings etc. are set to go under the hammer. Pune might be tempted to go for Hastings as he is someone who was with both Dhoni and Fleming at Chennai Super Kings franchise and Melbourne Stars, which is coached by Fleming.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Ishant Sharma
It is safe to say that Royal Challengers Bangalore are the South Africa of the Indian Premier League as the team from Bangalore tend to choke in pressure. In spite of having the best T20 batting line-up on paper, Virat Kohli and his men are yet to win the tournament. Their bowling is something that let them down in the past and in the last two seasons, they got their bowling combination right and still, they didn't go all the way.
There is no need of tinkering their batting line-up as they already have a lot of world-class batsmen in their squad. Even in the bowling front, the Vijay Mallya-owned franchise has got two of the world’s best bowlers in this format, Mitchell Starc and Samuel Badree.
In spite of this, the Bangalore outfit have been lacking a good Indian seam bowler over the years. This time, there are few decent names that are available in the auction and the team management might prefer buying either Irfan Pathan or Ishant Sharma ahead of 2017 IPL. It won’t be a surprise if they go behind India’s Test spearhead, Ishant at the auction as he has improved a lot when it comes to bowling at the death.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Imran Tahir
The defending champions have retained the core of their IPL-winning team. They are equally good in both the departments. Their batting consists of David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh etc. and in the bowling front, they have the right blend of youth and experience with the likes of Ashish Nehra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman etc.
But, one area which the Men in Orange lack is their spin department. Ever since releasing Amit Mishra, the team management has failed to get a proper replacement for the leggie and had to bank on Karn Sharma and Bipul Sharma. This time, VVS Laxman and his men will look to acquire the services of a world-class spinner at the auction.
There are a handful of decent spinners available in the pool with one among Brad Hogg, Imran Tahir and Pawan Negi being the favourite to end up playing for the Hyderabad franchise. They have the luxury of buying an overseas spinner and it is likely that it will be the South African spinner, who will be at the top of Sunrisers’ priority list.
Buying Negi will give them an all-round option, but their top priority will be someone who can choke the run flow and get wickets in the middle overs, something that Tahir has been doing in this format.
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