IPL 2018 auction: Rating the squads

Kolkata Knight Riders - 5/10

Openers: Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Cameron Delport
Middle-order batsmen: Shubman Gill, Ishank Jaggi, Nitish Rana, Apoorv Wankhade, Rinku Singh

Wicketkeepers: Dinesh Karthik
Allrounders: Andre Russell, Javon Searles
Spinners: Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav
Pacers: Mitchell Starc, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Vinay Kumar, Mitchell Johnson
The Knight Riders from Kolkata had gone into the auction with Sunil Narine and Andre Russell already in the kitty. Though their reluctance to sign Gambhir up again was a surprise, a move for Chris Lynn was expected and they did, ultimately, buy him for 9.60 crores.

They followed it up with another expensive buy, Mitchell Starc in 9.40 crores. Early in the auction, KKR had their overseas quota set and they just had to focus on the Indian guns and back-ups. However, despite spending everything they had in the purse, Knight Riders haven't managed to build up a formidable side.
They don't have much experience in the side, there is no outright choice for captaincy and if one of the regular starters are injured, there are only a few capable enough to replace them. KKR started the auction well but heavy early spending cost them at the last.

Chennai Super Kings - 7/10

Openers: Shane Watson, M Vijay
Middle-order batsmen: Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Sam Billings, Dhruv Shorey

Wicketkeepers: MS Dhoni, J Narayan
Allrounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Monu Kumar Singh, Kshitiz Sharma
Spinners: Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Mitchell Santner
Pacers: Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Kanishk Seth, Mark Wood, Lungi Ngidi

The IPL giants went into the auction with the aim of buying back most of their former players and, more or less, they did succeed in it. CSK is a good mix of a lot of experienced, and a few young players, with a more than able captain to lead them.

However, whether the experienced bunch will be able to replicate their goods of the past is another question. While most of the batsmen, all-rounders and spinners have consistently played at the highest of levels, their pace battery is fairly young and inexperienced.
Apart from Murali Vijay and Shane Watson, and perhaps Faf du Plessis, they don't have many opening options as well. However, because they will be playing majority of their matches in Chennai, they have assembled a formidable spin attack.

Rajasthan Royals - 7.5/10

Openers: Ajinkya Rahane, D'Arcy Short, Rahul Tripathi
Middle-order batsmen: Steven Smith, Aryaman Birla

Wicketkeepers: Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Prashant Chopra
Allrounders: Ben Stokes, Stuart Binny, Jofra Archer, K Gowtham, Jatin Saxena, Mahipal Lomror
Spinners: Zahir Khan, Shreyas Gopal, Midhun S, Ankit Sharma
Pacers: Anureet Singh, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni, Dushmantha Chameera, Ben Laughlin

Rajasthan Royals bought the two most expensive player in the auction, Ben Stokes and Jaydev Unadkat. They even went on to bag both D'Arcy Short and Jofra Archer, two of the hottest overseas uncapped properties.

However, as far as the Indian players are concerned, they don't have a name big enough to instil fear in the opposition. Ajinkya Rahane is one of the better Indian batsmen, however, he doesn't have the ability to win T20 matches single-handedly.
While RR's batting looks settled and they have one of the best middle orders on-paper with Smith, Buttler and Stokes, their bowling doesn't have a serial wicket-taker apart from Unadkat. Something which might hurt them in big matches.

Sunrisers Hyderabad - 8/10

Openers: David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan
Middle-order batsmen: Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Sachin Baby, Ricky Bhui, Tanmay Agarwal

Wicketkeepers: Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami
Allrounders: Shakib Al Hasan, Carlos Brathwaite, Yusuf Pathan, Deepak Hooda, Mohammad Nabi
Spinners: Rashid Khan, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan
Pacers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddarth Kaul, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma, Chris Jordan, Billy Stanlake

Hyderabad got the job done without much of a fuss in the auction. They used their RTMs on the usual suspects, Shikhar Dhawan, Deepak Hooda and Rashid Khan, and made Manish Pandey their most expensive buy at 11 crores.

Their squad, however, is short on someone who can finish games for them. While Yusuf Pathan is no more the batsman he used to be, drafting in Carlos Brathwaite will force them to drop a foreign player.
SRH's strong Indian pace line-up is, undoubtedly, the strongest of their units and they'll have to drive the team home in tricky situations.

Kings XI Punjab - 8/10

Openers: Aaron Finch, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle
Middle-order batsmen: Karun Nair, Yuvraj Singh, David Miller, Manoj Tiwary

Wicketkeepers: Akshdeep Nath
Allrounders: Axar Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Manzoor Dar
Spinners: R Ashwin, Mayank Dagar, Mujeeb Zadran, Pardeep Sahu
Pacers: Ankit Rajpoot, Mohit Sharma, Barinder Sran, Andrew Tye, Ben Dwarshuis
Kings XI look a formidable side on paper, right from the top of the order to the bottom, they have a world class player on almost all of their positions. However, they don't have a wicket-keeper good enough to play every match and as a result, they'll have to handle KL Rahul the keeping duties.

Moreover, there are questions whether Yuvraj Singh can carry the team on his shoulders and if not, are there any able replacements? KXIP will also need to keep a look on the performances of Miller and Gayle, both of whom disappointed last season in the IPL.
Overall, the side looks fairly balanced, however, they would want their experienced bunch to keep things tight as the squad doesn't have players as good to replace them.
 

Delhi Daredevils - 8.5/10

Openers: Colin Munro, Jason Roy, Gautam Gambhir, Prithvi Shaw, Manjot Kalra
Middle-order batsmen: Shreyas Iyer, Glenn Maxwell

Wicketkeeper: Rishabh Pant, Naman Ojha
Allrounders: Chris Morris, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Gurkeerat Singh, Daniel Christian
Spinners: Amit Mishra, Jayant Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Tewatia, Sandeep Lamichhane
Pacers: Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan, Trent Boult, Sayan Ghosh

The Daredevils from Delhi have built up quite a team. Their batting line-up has match-winners at every position and their bowlers are feared across the world. However, apart from Morris, they don't have a game-changing all-rounder.
With a plethora of attacking talent, DD would have done well to buy a player who can clean things up after a horrid start. However, other than that their squad is easily one of the best and might as well challenge for the title come April.

Royal Challengers Bangalore - 9/10

Openers: Brendon McCullum, Manan Vohra
Middle-order batsmen: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Pavan Deshpande

Wicketkeepers: Quinton de Kock, Parthiv Patel
Allrounders: Moeen Ali, Colin de Grandhomme, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Aniruddha Joshi
Spinners: Yuzvendra Chahal, M Ashwin
Pacers: Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Aniket Choudhary, Navdeep Saini, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mohammad Siraj, Tim Southee

For the first time in their 10-year history, the RCB think-tank have managed to deliver a balanced side to the captain. They have the strongest bench of all the eight franchises - at least two quality options for every position.

In McCullum, Vohra, Patel and De Kock, they now have four options for the opening slot and the latter two for the keeping duties. Moeen Ali, De Grandhomme, Woakes, Washington Sundar and Negi have all played at the top level and two of these players in the lower middle order, after Kohli and De Villiers have done their work, can change the team's fortunes.
From the bowling point of view, Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Coulter-Nile, Southee, Siraj and the likes are more than capable of bowling opposition out. If they can get the combination right early on in the tournament, RCB have enough firepower to go all the way.
 

Mumbai Indians - 9/10

Openers: Evin Lewis
Middle-order batsmen: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, JP Duminy, Siddhesh Lad, Sharad Lumba

Wicketkeepers: Ishan Kishan, Aditya Tare
Allrounders: Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Ben Cutting, Tajinder Singh
Spinners: Mayank Markande, Rahul Chahar, Anukul Roy, Akila Dananjaya
Pacers: Jasprit Bumrah, Mustafizur Rahman, Pat Cummins, Pradeep Sangwan, Jason Behrendorff, MD Nidheesh, Mohsin Khan

MI have managed to keep hold of the core of their team which won the IPL last year. They have even revamped their pace attack with additions of Mustafizur Rahman and Pat Cummins.

Another huge addition is Evin Lewis at the top of the order as the West Indian can be devastating, especially at the Wankhede with small boundaries. With Lewis and Ishan Kishan opening the proceedings and Rohit, Suryakumar Yadav, Pollard and both the Pandyas following them, MI have a deep batting line-up.
Moreover, if they choose to play Ben Cutting in place of Mustafizur, they further expand their batting options. The only downside of their team is the absence of an experienced spinner.  (Via Sportskeeda)