IPL Auction 2019: What will be the agenda of each franchise?

There are still about 4 months left for the IPL to kickstart but the excitement for the 12th season of the cash-rich league has already started as the teams are getting ready for the auction which is to take place in the month of December.

The franchises have already released their list of retained and released players and are now busy making plans to build a squad which is capable of winning the silverware. Here we look at what each IPL franchise will be wanting from the auction of IPL-12.

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#1 Delhi Daredevils

Unadkat could be a target for the Daredevils

Retained: Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Rahul Tewatia, Jayant Yadav, Manjot Kalra, Colin Munro, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Sandeep Lamichhane, Trent Boult

Released: Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Junior Dala, Liam Plunkett, Mohammed Shami, Sayan Ghosh, Daniel Christian, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Naman Ojha

Traded: Shikhar Dhawan from SRH for Abhishek Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem.

DD currently has a 15 member squad and will want to add a few more players before the start of the season. Starting from the priorities, the Daredevils would want an experienced middle order batsman who can partner the young duo of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant.

Delhi will also seek an experienced Indian fast bowler as their domestic pace department comprises of only Avesh Khan and Harshal Patel. They will also look for a wicketkeeper-batsman as a backup for Pant and a spinner who can replace Shahbaz Nadeem as the partner of Amit Mishra since Jayant Yadav and Rahul Tewatia looks out of favour and Lamichhane is too young. They would further also want a few all-rounders having released Glenn Maxwell and Dan Christian before the auctions.

Suggested Players-Jaydev Unadkat, Axar Patel, Luke Ronchi, Carlos Brathwaite

Salary cap available: 25.50 crore

Available slots: 10; Indian 7, Overseas 3

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#2 Sunrisers Hyderabad

Naman Ojha could be an SRH target

Retained: Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey, T Natarajan, Ricky Bhui, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, Shreevats Goswami (wk), Khaleel Ahmed, Yusuf Pathan, Billy Stanlake, David Warner, Kane Williamson, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Shakib Al Hasan

Released: Sachin Baby, Tanmay Agarwal, Wriddhiman Saha, Chris Jordan, Carlos Brathwaite, Alex Hales, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan

Traded: Shikhar Dhawan to Delhi Daredevils for Abhishek Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem

From the auctions, SRH would most importantly want a replacement for Dhawan who can partner David Warner at the top as the likes of Shreevats Goswami had failed earlier when pushed up the order. Buying an opener will also allow Williamson to bat down and strengthen the middle order.

They would also look for a wicketkeeper-batsman as they have only Goswami currently in their ranks having released Saha already. Last year the middle order was a problem for the Sunrisers as the likes of Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan couldn't live up to the hype. So they will be targeting a few batsmen to fill the void in that position.

Otherwise, the SRH team looks pretty settled with the likes of Rashid Khan and Nadeem in their spin attack, Shakib and Mohammed Nabi as all-rounders and a host of fast bowlers.

Suggested Players: Akshdeep Nath, Naman Ojha, Colin Ingram, Manoj Tiwary

Salary cap available: 9.70 crore

Available slots: 5; Indian 3, Overseas 2

#3 Kings XI Punjab

Corey Anderson - The ideal allrounder for Kings XI Punjab?

Retained: Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, Andrew Tye, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Rajpoot, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Karun Nair, David Miller and Ravichandran Ashwin

Released: Aaron Finch, Axar Patel, Mohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Barinder Sran, Ben Dwarshuis, Manoj Tiwary, Akshdeep Nath, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar and Manzoor Dar

Traded: Marcus Stoinis for Mandeep Singh with RCB

The Punjab based franchise currently has a 10-member squad. In the auctions, the Kings would, first of all, want a wicket-keeper batsman to relieve KL Rahul from his duties and would also want an all-rounder to partner their lone skipper cum all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin.

A few middle order batsmen will also be on their wish list alongside reinforcements for their pace department which has only Andrew Tye and Ankit Rajpoot. The opening slot, however, looks quite settled with Chris Gayle, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal all there.

Suggested Players: Corey Anderson, Wriddhiman Saha, Dale Steyn, Saurabh Tiwary, Manoj Tiwary

Salary cap available: 36.20 crore

Available slots: 15; Indian 11, Overseas 4

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#4 Mumbai Indians

Mohammed Shami might be a target for the Mumbai Indians

Retained: Rohit Sharma (C), Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Mayank Markande, Rahul Chahar, Anukul Roy, Siddhesh Lad, Aditya Tare, Quinton de Kock, Evin Lewis, Kieron Pollard, Ben Cutting, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Jason Behrendorff.

Released: Saurabh Tiwary, Pradeep Sangwan, Mohsin Khan, MD Nidheesh, Sharad Lumba, Tajinder Singh Dhillon, JP Duminy, Pat Cummins, Mustafizur Rahman, Akila Dananjaya.

Traded: Quinton de Kock from RCB

The 3-time IPL champions will look for fast bowling options from the auction having released the duo of Pat Cummins and Mustafizur Rahman beforehand. MI's current pace department comprises Jasprit Bumrah, whose availability for the entire IPL is a concern due to the WC, Jason Behendroff, Adam Milne and Mitchell McClenaghan.

Also, they would be looking forward to an experienced spinner who can lead the young spin trio of Rahul Chahar, Mayank Markande and Anukul Roy. Further, MI would also look to acquire the services of an all-rounder because of the inconsistent performances of Pollard and Cutting and doubt over Hardik Pandya's presence for the entire season.

Suggested Players: Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, Jaydev Unadkat, Axar Patel, Adam Zampa, Nathan Lyon

Salary cap available: 11.15 crore

Available slots: 7; Indian 6, Overseas 1

#5 Rajasthan Royals

Manoj Tiwary - Possible middle order option for RR

Retained: Ajinkya Rahane, Krishnappa Gowtham, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Gopal, Aryaman Birla, S. Midhun, Prashant Chopra, Stuart Binny, Rahul Tripathi, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ish Sodhi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mahipal Lomror.

Released: D’Arcy Short, Ben Laughlin, Heinrich Klaasen, Dane Paterson, Zahir Khan, Dushmantha Chameera, Jaydev Unadkat, Anureet Singh, Ankit Sharma, Jatin Saxena.

The opening, all round and spin department of the Royals looks perfect on pen and paper with the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Tripathi, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes. The 2008 IPL winners would however first and foremost target a few fast bowlers, who can partner Dhawal Kulkarni, their lone fast bowler in the current squad, as they released the duo of Jaydev Unadkat and Ben Laughlin prior to the auctions.

They would also be looking forward to seeking some middle order reinforcement from the auction because last season it was the mid-order which failed to accelerate in the death overs and thus cost them heavily.

Suggested Players: Manoj Tiwary, Sachin Baby, Tom Curran, Mark Wood, Junior Dala, Sreenath Aravind

Salary cap available: 20.95 crore

Available slots: 9; Indian 6, Overseas 3

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#6 Chennai Super Kings

Varun Charavarthy, the mystery spinner, can be CSK's X-Factor

Retained: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, M Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Billings, Mitchell Santner, David Willey, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Karn Sharma, Dhruv Shorey, N Jagadeesan, Shardul Thakur, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi

Released: Mark Wood, Kanishk Seth, Kshitiz Sharma

The Chennai based franchise has released only 3 players from their squad and has only 2 slots left, that too only Indian, to be filled up. The defending champions have all their departments perfectly settled with experienced players and would probably want to pick some youngsters from the auction who can be their X-factor.

Suggested Players: Varun Chakravarthy, Rohit Damodaran, M Shajahan, Sai Kishore

Salary cap available: 8.40 crore

Available slots: 2; Indian 2, Overseas 0

#7 Royal Challengers Bangalore

Joe Root would be a target for RCB in the auctions

Retained: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya

Released: Brendon McCullum, Corey Anderson, Quinton de Kock, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Sarfraz Khan

Traded: Mandeep Singh for Marcus Stoinis with KXIP

Having released McCullum, RCB will firstly look for an opener in the auction who can partner Parthiv Patel at the top. Along with that, they would also look for middle order batsmen as they have currently only Kohli and ABD for that position in their ranks. They would also want to acquire the services of a wicketkeeper-batsman as a backup for Parthiv.

The pace and spin department looks quite settled boasting the likes of Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar. However, the Bold Brigade would also want an all-rounder from the auction who can serve as a backup for Marcus Stoinis.

Suggested Players: Joe Root, Hashim Amla, Carlos Brathwaite

Salary cap available: 18.15 crore

Available slots: 10; Indian 8, Overseas 2

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#8 Kolkata Knight Riders

Steyn to KKR?

Retained: Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shubman Gill, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti

Released: Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Tom Curran, Cameron Delport, Ishank Jaggi, Vinay Kumar, Apoorv Wankhade, Javon Searles

KKR will be in search for overseas fast bowlers in the auction as they look forward to replacing the trio of Johnson, Starc and Tom Curran since they possibly wouldn't dare to play an all Indian in-experienced bowling attack of Shivam Mavi, Prasidh Krishna and Kamlesh Nagarkoti.

Further, they would also want an all-rounder and an opener as a back up for the injury-prone Andre Russell and Chris Lynn respectively along with a few middle order batsmen for their bench.

Suggested Players: Dale Steyn, Mark Wood, Manoj Tiwary, Hashim Amla, Eoin Morgan

Salary cap available: 15.20 crore

Available slots: 12; Indian 7, Overseas 5