Punjab and Delhi teams after the IPL Auction 2014

Here is a look at our competing teams after the IPL Auction 2014, starting with the three teams of Northern India, namely, Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils.

While going through the table do remember that -

1. The Salaries of retained players might not be correct as there salaries haven't been disclosed. The salary amount mentioned against the players has been set by the Indian Premier League Governing Council.
2. Another thing to keep in mind is that the Salary amount depicted in US $ has been converted considering that 1 Indian Rupees = 62.5 US $
3. Once, Sunil Gavaskar had quoted that any bowler who has the ability to score 12 or more runs per match can qualify to be called an all-rounder. Using that principle I have added such players in the all-rounders bracket
4. Batsmen who have the ability to bowl, atleast, three out of four overs regularly and either take wickets or dry up runs have been included in the all-rounders bracket
5. There are some batsmen who do not bowl but do double-up as wicket keepers for their team, I have added those players in the wicket keepers bracket.

The team of Delhi Daredevils is as follows -

Player Name	Nationality	Batting Style	Bowling Style	Salary (Ind ₹ & US $)
Batsman
Kevin Pietersen (C)	England	Right Handed		9 Crore (1.4 Million $)
Murali Vijay	India	Right Handed		5 Crore (800,000 $)
Saurabh Tiwary	India	Left Handed		70 Lakhs (112,000 $)
Manoj Tiwary	India	Right Handed		2.8 Crore (448,000 $)
Ross Taylor	New Zealand	Right Handed		2 Crore (320,000 $)
Kedar Jadhav	India	Right Handed		2 Crore (320,000 $)
Mayank Agarwal	India	Right Handed		1.6 Crore (256,000 $)
Milind Kumar	India	Right Handed		10 Lakhs (16,000 $)
Allrounders
Jimmy Neesham	New Zealand	Left Handed	Right Arm Medium	1 Crore (160,000 $)
J P Duminy	South Africa	Left Handed	Right Arm Off Break	2.2 Crore (352,000 $)
Laxmi Ratan Shukla	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Medium	1.5 Crore (240,000 $)
Jayant Yadav	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Off Break	10 Lakhs (16,000 $)
Wicket Keepers
Dinesh Karthik	India	Right Handed		12.5 Crore (2.0 Million $)
Quinton de Kock	South Africa	Left Handed		3.5 Crore (560,000 $)
Bowlers
Nathan Coulter-Nile	Australia	Right Handed	Right Arm Fast	4.25 Crore (680,000 $)
Wayne Parnell	South Africa	Left Handed	Left Arm Fast Medium	1 Crore (160,000 $)
Mohammed Shami	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Fast Medium	4.25 Crore (680,000 $)
Jaydev Unadkat	India	Right Handed	Left Arm Fast Medium	2.8 Crore (448,000 $)
Rahul Shukla	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Fast Medium	40 Lakhs (64,000)
Shahbaz Nadeem	India	Right Handed	Left Arm Orthodox	85 Lakhs (136,000 $)
Siddarth Kaul	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Medium Fast	45 Lakhs (72,000 $)
H S Sharath	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Medium Fast	10 Lakhs (16,000 $)
Rahul Sharma	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Leg Break	1.9 Crore (304,000 $)

The team of Kings XI Punjab is as follows -

Player Name	Nationality	Batting Style	Bowling Style	Salary (Ind ₹ & US $)
Batsman
Shaun Marsh	Australia	Left Handed		2.2 Crore (352,000 $)
David Miller	South Africa	Left Handed		12.5 Crore (2.0 Million $)
George Bailey	Australia	Right Handed		3.25 Crore (520,000 $)
Cheteshwar Pujara	India	Right Handed		1.9 Crore (304,000 $)
Gurkeerat Singh	India	Right Handed		1.3 Crore (208,000)
Mandeep Singh	India	Right Handed		80 Lakhs (128,000 $)
Manan Vohra	India	Right Handed		4 Crore (640,000 $)
Allrounders
Virender Sehwag	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Off Break	3.2 Crore (512,000 $)
Glenn Maxwell	Australia	Right Handed	Right Arm Off Break	6 Crore (960,000 $)
Mitchell Johnson	Australia	Left Handed	Left Arm Fast	6.5 Crore (1.04 Million $)
Murali Kartik	India	Left Handed	Left Arm Orthodox	1 Crore (160,000 $)
Rishi Dhawan	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Medium Fast	3 Crore (480,000 $)
Thisara Perera	Sri Lanka	Left Handed	Right Arm Medium Fast	1.6 Crore (256,000 $)
Akshar Patel	India	Left Handed	Left Arm Orthodox	75 Lakhs (120,000 $)
Wicket Keepers
Wriddhiman Saha	India	Right Handed		2.2 Crore (352,000 $)
Bowlers
Lakshmipathy Balaji	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Medium Fast	1.8 Crore (288,000 $)
Beuran Hendricks	South Africa	Right Handed	Left Arm Medium Fast	1.8 Crore (288,000 $)
Parwinder Awana	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Medium Fast	65 Lakhs (104,000 $)
Anureet Singh	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Medium Fast	20 Lakhs (32,000 $)
Sandeep Sharma	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Medium Fast	85 Lakhs (136,000 $)
Karanveer Singh	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Leg Break	10 Lakhs (16,000 $)
Shardul Thakur	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Medium Fast	20 Lakhs (32,000 $)
Shivam Sharma	India	Right Handed	Right Arm Off Break	10 Lakhs (16,000 $)

How the Team was made - Day 2 of the IPL Auction

Day 2 of the auction was when most of the uncapped players were presented for bidding. While cricket legend Rahul Dravid mentored Rajasthan Royals made some intelligent and interesting purchases in Rajat Bhatia, Unmukt Chand, Karun Nair, Dhawal Kulkarni and Iqbal Abdulla; they also, wisely, retained some former players like Praveen Tambe, Kevon Cooper, Dishant Yagnik and Vikramjeet Malik.

Amongst all the 'new' players who were brought into Rajasthan Royals it was the purchase of Rajat Bhatia, bought after a bidding war with Kolkata Knight Riders, which I felt was the best. He is a very handy all-rounder and was used by his former captain Gautam Gambhir, in the Kolkata Knight Riders, as a bowler who could throw down 4 economical overs, break partnerships if required, and score 16-20 important runs in the death overs while coming down the order. He is an experienced and a competitive player and was, in a way, the go-to guy for Gautam Gambhir in the Kolkata Knight Riders' 2012 and 2013 Indian Premier League campaigns !

Another 'new' buy which I found interesting was Unmukt Chand. A very talented cricketer, he was the captain of the victorious U-19 Indian Cricket Team which won the 2012 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Australia.

The purchase of Dhawal Kulkarni was also a decent decision but I felt that this was in response to the inability of Rajasthan Royals to purchase Rishi Dhawan, the highest wicket taker in Ranji Trophy this year, as there was a fierce bidding war between the Rajasthan Royals,  Kings XI Punjab and the Mumbai Indians. He was ultimately won by Kings XI Punjab.

Amongst the former players who were retained, I was really happy to see Tambe, Malik, Yagnik and Cooper; all of whom having contributed to the almost successful 2013 Indian Premier League Season and a fabulous run in 2013 Champions League T20.

All in all the auction went satisfactorily for Rajasthan Royals who did manage to induct good players into the squad despite not being able to get the first choice players on many occasions (but then it was the same for all other teams, wasn't it ?!).

In the end one is left thinking what would have happened if we could've  included (the explosive) Glenn Maxwell, (the accurate) Rishi Dhawan and (the fast) Nathan Coulter-Nile, all consistent players, in our squad ?! Perhaps, victory in the 2014 IPL Season !!

Only time will tell how good the current squad really is, on the field.. Till then.. Halla Bol..

How the Team was made - Day 1 of the IPL Auction

Every 3 years all teams in the Indian Premier League (T20 Cricket) are dissolved and get a chance (or suffer the ignominy) of having to rebuilt their teams again ! The year 2014 is the year when the auction had to take place and it took place at the time of writing this article. Now while teams like Delhi Daredevils. Kings XI Punjab will be welcoming the opportunity to rework their teams, teams like Chennai Superkings, Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians will be regretting to let go of players who contributed to their successful campaigns last year.

Rajasthan Royals was represented on the auction table by cricketing legend Rahul Dravid, Manoj Badale and company. On Day 1 of the players auction, they bought players like Tim Southee, Kane Richardson, Ben Cutting, Abhishek Nayyar apart from retaining Brad Hodge. It was irritating for a Royals fan to observe how every player for whom the Royals would start bidding for would be chased by the other teams (probably taking after the fact that Royals are really good team builders and choose good team players). Another thing which I found interesting was that the teams with which Rahul Dravid's friends and former colleagues, VVS Laxman (Hyderabad Sunrisers) & Anil Kumble (Mumbai Indians), were associated were often bidding for the same player. Talk about similarity in opinions, huh ?!

One of the biggest players, as per me, whom the Royals lost out on was Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell. The Royals started bidding for him as initially it started to look like no one was going to bid for him (Richard Madley, the auctioneer, had to call out several times before receiving the first bid) but then it was hijacked by Mumbai Indians and King XI Punjab. But no hard feelings on my part as Mumbai Indians (or rather may I say moneybags) lost out to Kings XI Punjab.

Another big name we lost out due to hostile bidding was Nathan Coulter-Nile (a very consistent fast bowler from Australia). I thought that we did miss a trick or two by not bidding for Murali Kartik and Johan Botha (who has played for the Royals earlier) both of whom are all-rounders. I also felt that we could've got one of the Pathan brothers into our stable as we desperately need one person in the lower middle order who can 'tonk' the bowler out of the stadium in the death overs.

But, apparently Rahul Dravid has preffered to go for players who have got sound cricketing techniques. Apparently, the new captain, Shane Watson's imprint on the team selection can be seen in the team when we see likes of Steven Smith and Ben Cutting in the new Royals Line-Up.

The selection of Kane Richardson and Tim Southee (who is a decent opening fast bowler) are interesting selections and only time will tell how well do their selections augur for the outcome of the Royals IPL campaign.

The selection of Abhishek Nayar was interesting because he, while being the only left hander in the squad right now, is not such a great batsman. He is more of a player who get 15-20 runs in a match and then gets out.

Rajasthan Royals will have their hands full on Day 2 of the auction as they need to ensure that they get Siddharth Trivedi (Yes ! Even after all the controversies he was embroiled in the last year because he is a vital cog in the Rajasthan Royals bowling machinery), Praveen Tambe, Ashok Menaria and Dishant Yagnik in the squad.

In the end I have to express my surprise at the manner in which Rajasthan Royals have tried to spend their money (they actually tried to !) because they are notoriously low – spenders in auctions and it is often suspected that the minimum spending amount in the auction has been set up by the authorities keeping the Rajasthan Royals in mind.