The auction for the 9th edition of the IPL saw plenty of drama with the two new teams, Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions filling up their roster while other teams scampered to sign the best available players.
Also read: IPL 2016: How the IPL team owners make money, how the IPL players are paid - Decoding IPL economics
With a massive talent pool available for the teams to choose from, we saw plenty of movement in the off-season. The IPL has proved to be a spectacle and each season turns out to be better than its predecessor.
Similarly, these signings, ahead of IPL 2016,will have a deep impact in the tournament’s folklore. Without further ado, let's have a look at the 10 best signings for this season:
Shane Watson to Royal Challengers Bangalore
Watching Shane Watson not play for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL will need some time to get used. Since the inception of the tournament, he has been with the Royals but since Rajasthan’s team has been banned, he now finds himself playing for another Royal team.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore coughed up a mammoth Rs. 9.5 crores to sign the Australian. He might have his doubters while he plays for the Kangaroos, but there can’t be any doubts about his prowess in the IPL.
At one point, he was single-handedly carrying the Rajasthan Royals with both bat and bowl. His all-round performance was also one of the biggest factors for RR’s glory in the first edition of the tournament and he might just be the difference RCB need to win their first IPL title.
Jos Buttler to Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians were relatively quiet in the auction, focusing more on young Indian talent than big name stars. And they were right in doing so. After all, they have a great team as it is and only a few tweaks here and there was the necessity.
And they made their best acquisition in the form of England wicket-keeper batsman, Jos Buttler.
The man is in the form of his life as his knocks in the slog overs helped England reach the final, where they only fell short due to Carlos Brathwaite’s miraculous innings. The plus point with having Buttler is that he has already been in India for a month and, hence, doesn’t need time to get accustomed to the pitches.
And that is why he will be a success in this year’s IPL.
Travis Head to Royal Challengers Bangalore
How the Royal Challengers got him for just Rs. 50 lakhs only God knows. But what we are sure of is that none of the franchises can blame God once they see Head perform.
In a star-studded team, it is highly unlikely that he would get the nod ahead of Shane Watson, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Mitchell Starc—their first-choice four foreigners on an ideal day—but once he does, it will be very hard to put him back on the bench.
The young Australian has an average of nearly 30 and a strike-rate of 150 in the 22 T20 innings that he has played in his career. He is one hell of a hitter of the ball and RCB might actually win the tournament if this young man is used wisely.
Ashish Nehra to Sunrisers Hyderabad
When the Chennai Super Kings bought Nehra last year, many wondered what their thought process actually was. However, in the last one year, his rise has been incredible.
After a good IPL and domestic circa, he was chosen for the Asia Cup and World T20 squad, again to the surprise of many. However, he silenced his critics with style as he was among the most economics bowlers in both the tournaments.
The think tanks at Hyderabad carried out a very well thought out plan in the auctions as they knew that they needed a support bowler to help the likes of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar get wickets…and Nehra is just that.
Rishab Pant to Delhi Daredevils
The last 10 balls he faced in an underage international cricket consisted of 4 fours and 3 sixes—amassing 35 runs in the process. Coincidentally, 7 of those were the last deliveries he faced before the IPL auction and, inevitably, it caught the eyes of potential suitors.
When one watches him bat, he comes off as a spitting image of former India batsman, Virender Sehwag. Indeed, when words pour out of his mind in the most casual of ways, the similarity becomes uncanny.
And like Sehwag, his first IPL team is the Delhi Daredevils.
His gung-ho approach and fearless attitude is just what is required to be a hit in the tournament. So watch out this space.
Adam Zampa to Rising Pune Supergiants
Not many knew him before he came to India to feature in the World T20. However, after a great World Cup, where he picked up 5 wickets in the 11 overs that he bowled, Rising Pune Supergiants are perhaps patting themselves on their backs.
It is not a coincidence that in the only two games that Australia lost at the World T20, he bowled a combined number of 3 overs. Perhaps the results could have been in the Kangaroos’ favour had they used him more.
Regardless of that, he made his mark in the tournament and the fact that he is going to bowl in similar conditions makes his chances of succeeding even more likely.
Kevin Pietersen to Rising Pune Supergiants
Not much needs to be said about this enigmatic South African-born Englishman. In terms of pure talent, only a few players could rival him as, on his best day, he could single-handedly win his team a game.
However, the only complaint that has followed him ever since his christening in the cricket world is his volatile and somewhat arrogant nature. Though, it can be argued that someone as insanely talented as him, who makes batting look so easy and effortless, has the right to be like that.
In Pietersen, the Rising Pune Supergiants have bought themselves a true star for Rs. 3.5 crores. He was among the better performers in the Pakistan Super League and is likely to keep playing at the level of his career figures that boast an average of 34.71 and a strike-rate of 136.44 in T20s.
Dale Steyn to Gujarat Lions
He might not be in the best of form, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is one of the best bowlers in the world of cricket. Indeed, he is one of the very few who can boast about being able to defend 7 runs in the final over of a T20I World Cup match.
The Gujarat Lions spent a whopping Rs. 2.3 crores to acquire his signature and we all know why.
He has a great history in IPL with both Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad. The only player who could say that completely got the better of the South African would be his countryman, AB de Villiers.
Indeed, it was AB de Villiers who showed the world how to unleash fury on a bowler of his calibre and Steyn’s form has somewhat fallen from then, but he still remains one of the few bowlers who can change the course of a game.
Eklavya Dwivedi to Gujarat Lions
No, he is not the Eklavya from Mahabharata, if that is what you are wondering. He is a 27-year-old cricketer with an average of 40 in the domestic T20 circuit, who has also been in the squad of Pune Warriors and Chennai Super Kings, where he couldn’t get a shot.
However, this could be his year. After the Gujarat Lions showed persistence and spent Rs. 1 crore on him, they made it clear that he wouldn’t be a pushover for the likes of Dinesh Karthik and Brendon McCullum. And this is what he needed.
Being a keeper meant that he had to trample MS Dhoni, Wriddhiman Saha et al. to make a place in the team when he took part in the previous years. However, this time around, he might have to compete with McCullum and Karthik.
Good news for him is that the former doesn’t keep wickets nowadays and the latter is not in form—certainly not up to the level of Dwivedi.
Mustafizur Rahman to Sunrisers Hyderabad
And one of the best signings of the IPL 2016 was made by the Sunrisers Hyderabad when they purchased this high-flying young Bangladeshi star as one of their foreigners. The 20-year-old might have Trent Boult as his direct rival in the team, but his current form is good enough to make him a starter from the first game itself.
VVS Laxman is said to be an admirer of his talent and one really doesn’t need to know why.
In the 3 T20I games that he played in the World Cup, he took an incredible 9 wickets—with a 5-for against a high-flying New Zealand team. His well-disguised slower ball is still a mystery for many batsmen and it is for this reason why his bowling averages in all the 6 recognized formats of cricket, both international and domestic, are below 20.
He has shown that he can adjust to batting-friendly Indian pitches, where it is hard for a pacer to make a name, and he will form a devastating trio with Bhuvaneshvar Kumar and Ashish Nehra.
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