Photo:IPL.com
IPL 2019 will take place just ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup which is going to be held in England. Keeping this in mind, the management of all the eight franchisees will like to pick players who will be available for the full IPL campaign.
Cricket Australia (CA) and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have already informed BCCI about their cricketers unavailability from May 1. Here is a look at all the eight teams and players who can be valuable additions to their line-ups:
1) Rajasthan Royals (RR):
The team that returned to the IPL fold after serving a two-year ban had a pretty decent finish in IPL 2018 as they reached the play-offs. The team management, however, will look to fill some gaps to go the distance. Royals are going to miss the services of the English duo of Ben Stokes and Jos Butler after May 1 when they are likely to feature in England’s World Cup squad. The team known for giving uncapped players a chance will like to enhance its middle order and also get in a fast bowler, having released Jaydev Unadak earlier. Royals can buy a total of nine players in Tuesday’s auction.
Middle-order batsmen
The team will likely look at the pool of Indian uncapped players who have performed well in the domestic season. The 28-year-old Priyank Panchal who plays for Gujarat and 21-year-old Ajay Rohera who plays for Madhya Pradesh are definitely going to generate a lot of interest as both the players had a decent outing in the Ranji season.
Bowlers
Rajasthan will look to fill the void of a pacer after Unadkat was released. Lasith Malinga, one of the best in the cricket’s shortest format, may find a place in the team for his bowling as well as a mentor for the young bowling side.
2) Delhi Capitals(DC):
The erstwhile Delhi Daredevils will look for a change in ITS fortuneS after a changed of name. With a new captain in Shreyas Iyer bringing local boy Shikhar Dhawan back into the team in the trading window, they will look to find an opening partner for Dhawan. The Capitals can buy a total of 10 players in Tuesday’s auction.
Opening Batsman:
New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum fits the bill perfectly and may see a frenzied bidding by the Delhi franchise when his name comes up.
Middle order:
Hanuma Vihari and Manoj Tiwary are the two Indian players who can be picked by Delhi to strengthen their batting middle order.
Pacer:
After releasing Mohammed Shami, Delhi will look to get another Indian pacer as their overseas pace attack is quite formidable.
3) Kings XI Punjab (KXIP):
The team under Ravichandran Ashwin will look to purchase quality all-rounders in this year’s auction after letting go Axar Patel, Marcus Stoinis and Yuvraj Singh.
All-rounders:
England’s Sam Curran and Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews will be good picks for Kings XI Punjab. The other players they may look to rope in include the CariBbean duo Jason Holder and Dwayne Smith. Kings XI Punjab can buy a total of 15 players in the 2019 IPL auction.
4) Mumbai Indians (MI):
One of the most successful teams of the IPL have got their almost all their bases covered with a strong bowling attack, both in THE pace as well as THE spin departmentS. The only concern for the team is its batting is heavily dependent on skipper Rohit Sharma. Mumbai Indians can buy a total of seven players and will look to strengtHen their batting.
Batsmen:
Colin Ingram and Wriddhiman Saha along with Yuvraj Singh may draw evince interest from the Mumbai franchise.
5) Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR):
The team, which invested a lot in the young talents in the previous auction, will look to get some experience on board this time. KKR under skipper Dinesh Karthik has relied very much on the Carribean duo of Andre Russel and Sunil Narine. They will look to get an Indian all-rounder and a experienced pacer in the side. KKR can pick a total of 12 players at the auction.
All-rounder:
Axar Patel will garner a lot of interest from the KKR camp as he can fit in the role of the Indian all-rounder that the KKR is looking for.
Pacer:
Ishant Sharma’s recent form in Australia will help to find him bidders in this year’s auction and KKR will definitely look at the Delhi pacer who can also mentor the young quicks of KKR.
6) Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH):
Kane Williamson led SRH brilliantly in the absence of David Warner in IPL 2018. The team will look to find a replacement for Shikhar Dhawan for the opening batsmen’s slot. They can bid for a total of five players in this year’s auction.
Openers:
Carribean batsman Shimron Hetymer and New Zealand’s Martin Guptill may be good picks for the opening batsman’s role for the SRH team.
7) Chennai Super Kings (CSK):
They are the one team which look mostly settled going into this year’s auction. They can buy just two Indian players in this year’s auction and will look to get some handy players in the squad.
8) Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB):
The Virat Kohli-led side will be the one team which will try to make full use of this year’s auction. They have just has just two reliable names in the batting department -- Kohli and AB de Villiers.
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