With the Indian T20 League 2021 auctions reportedly scheduled to be held on February 11, BCCI has asked each franchise to submit their list of released and retained players by January 20, Wednesday.
With the venues of the upcoming Indian T20 League edition yet to be finalised, every team will have a challenging time picking their best squad for the upcoming season.
The sudden change in Indian T20 League venues last year, owing to the global pandemic, had thrown numerous teams off-gear and the league enters the next edition – likely to be held in April after England’s Tour of India – under similar uncertainty.
All the teams are likely to have a safe approach going into the auction and here are the likely names from each team who could be retained for the upcoming edition of Indian T20 League.
Chennai
After enduring their worst finish to any Indian T20 League season since the tournament’s inception in 2008, MS Dhoni is expected to return with a bang this year.
However, the former captain of the Indian cricket team does not believe in hacking and chopping and with a remaining purse of Rs 0.15 crores left, Chennai are expected to retain most of his trusted teammates in the rebuilding process.
Batsman: Ambati Rayudu, Faf Du Plessis, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ruturaj Gaikwad
Bowler: Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Sam Curran
All-Rounder: Ravindra Jadeja
Bangalore
Unlike his predecessor, Virat Kohli is a firm believer of frequent reassembling of the squad. Hence, despite Bangalore managing to reach the play-offs by finishing fourth in the league stages, another trophyless season is likely to see the team reshuffling things again.
With a purse of Rs 6.4 crores left, team Bangalore is expected to hold on to their core few and go all out this auction.
Batsmen: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal
Bowlers: Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini
Mumbai
One of the few teams to have “figured out” the Indian T20 League, Mumbai won the tournament for a record fifth time last season when they defeated Delhi in the final. And as has been the case with Rohit Sharma and Co. before most options, they hardly tinker with their first eleven.
With a purse of Rs 1.95 crores left, Mumbai aren’t expected to deviate from their philosophy.
Batsmen: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan
Bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult,
All-rounders: Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Chahar
Punjab
There was no change in fortune for Punjab in the previous edition of the Indian T20 League as well, as the KL Rahul-led side failed to reach the playoffs for the sixth consecutive times last season.
Despite a sixth-place finish, Punjab had seen numerous positives last season and this time, for a change, the team is likely to retain their core from last season. However, with a hefty purse of Rs 16.5 crores left one will expect Punjab to shell out the cash on a star all-rounder.
Batsmen: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh
Bowlers: Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh
Delhi
Years of planning finally seemed to come together for Team Delhi as the Shreyas Iyer-led side reached the final of the Indian T20 League for the first time in the Indian T20 League history. This was also their second consecutive play-offs appearance after they had finished third last season.
With the blend of youth and experience working well for Ricky Ponting and a purse of Rs 9 crores remaining, the think-tank is expected to retain most of their top performers from last season and tend to the few loopholes.
Batsmen: Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant
Bowlers: Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, R Ashwin
All-rounders: Marcus Stoinis
Kolkata
After yet another mid-table finish in the last Indian T20 League season, which saw Kolkata changing leadership midway and struggling to keep form, the management has a lot to plan before the auction this time.
Having Rs 8.5 crores left in their purse, Kolkata will also look to make some quality additions to their squad after it has looked lacklustre for the past two seasons.
Batsmen: Eoin Morgan, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi
Bowlers: Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna, Kamlesh Nagarkoti
All-rounders: Andre Russell
Rajasthan
Last season saw Rajasthan finishing in the rock-bottom of the Indian T20 League for the first time in the tournament's history. Apart from that, the Steve Smith-led side hasn’t reached the playoffs since 2018 as well.
With a whopping Rs 14.75 crores left in their purse, the management is expected to go all out in the auction while holding on to the very little positives from last season.
Batsmen: Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson
Bowlers: Kartik Tyagi
All-Rounders: Ben Stokes, Rahul Tewatia, Tom Curran
Hyderabad
Despite starting on a horrendous note, which saw Team Hyderabad struggling for form and losing players to injuries, David Warner and Co. managed to squeeze into the playoffs for the fifth consecutive time.
With the form looking impressive just before they ended the season, the management will look to keep hold of their spine before getting down to the market with Rs 10.1 crores in their kitty.
Batsmen: David Warner, Kane Williamson, Jonny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha
Bowlers: Rashid Khan, Jason Holder
All-rounders: T Natarajan
Feature image courtesy: IPL, BCCI 2021.
