Team 2 in my list of previews is Sunrisers Hyderabad who I think did a splendid job in the auctions. Unlike the mega auction last time, where they started on an absurd note and then recovered later, this time they started on a good note and did well throughout.
SRH's OS set of batters is an outstanding one. Markram, Phillips, Klassen are pretty much as well rounded as batters can be in terms of skill. They also play spin quite well which isn't expected from batters outside Asia. Glenn Philips avgs a whopping 85.7 (SR 168)
in T20Is from the beginning of 2020. He also has the experience of playing in the CPL and did decently where pitches can be really difficult to bat at times. In WT20, he did well too. Brook is extremely talented with great range against pace, vs spin he could be tested though.
A top 3 of Abhishek Sharma, Mayank Agarwal and Rahul Tripathi are as good as an Indian Top 3 that can be assembled currently given the constraints of IPL. Only worry is Mayank's issues vs movement which have been highlighted quite badly this year. But the ball may not always move
Addition of Adil Rashid & Akeal Hosein has made their bowling attack even stronger. Both the players are an upgrade over Shreyas Gopal & Jagdeesha Suchith.
Biggest concern is captaincy. No perfect candidate. OS captains are always a huge risk and in the last 2 seasons SRH were stuck with non performing OS captains. I'd personally want one of Abhishek Sharma/Sundar to be captain with an eye for the future, but the scrutiny is so high
that you don't want young players succumbing to the pressure of it.
Death bowling was another concern for SRH last season. Bhuvi did well for them, but his radar at the death has been off post the IPL.
Their biggest threat is them not getting the combination right. When they used to have Warner, Williamson & Bairstow in Top 3, they couldn't accommodate Nabi who would have strengthened their finishing. Playing one of Rashid/Akeal is key for them.
If one of their Top 3 doesn't work out, they can give Samarth Vyas a go.
Like I said in the threats part. The other combination they could try is play 3 OS batters and one of Adil/Akeal depending upon conditions and play Natarajan instead of Jansen/Farooqui. That will mean Samad becomes an impact player.
Another thing that I want to point out is, to break the sameness of all RHBs in the Top 6, they can look to promote even Washington Sundar at the odd occasion.
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Posting this one got a little delayed as I wasn't feeling too well, but here's the 9th team, Mumbai Indians. MI came into the auction needing bowlers (both OS & Indian) and needing a number 7 (a replacement for Pollard). They covered a few of the above bases, but not all.
Strengths:
At this point of time, SKY is literally a one man army who's capable of rendering everything around him pointless. Apart from that, MI aren't short of explosive batters anyway in their squad. Their Top 5 can also be alternative LHB RHB if they get the line up right.
Concerns:
Their Indian bowling was probably their weakest link last season. It may continue to remain so this season. And they haven't really upgraded their spin bowling drastically. Shams Mulani's experience of being a local boy may come in handy, but he's not played IPL yet.
8th team in my IPL Auction Reviews is CSK. They needed another batter who could do well vs pace and thus they bought Stokes, and like always they showed their preference for all rounders by trying to buy Curran, but due to budget constraints they ended up buying Kyle Jamieson.
Strengths
The number of all rounders that they have in the mix is something that enables them to have great balance all the time. They are one team which doesn't need to use the impact player rule. And then no home ground favours any IPL team as much as Chepauk favours CSK.
Strengths:
The trio of Mukesh Choudhary, Deepak Chahar & Maheesh Theekshana can be relied upon to extract any help available and deliver wkts in the PP.
Like I had said before when people were being critical of selectors, we can't give blanket statements on their performance as long as we don't know what are their actual powers. Similarly, I don't think we can say that it's only money which is a factor that many didn't apply for
the job.
What we must understand and realise is that being a selector could be akin to being a scapegoat if captains & coaches are having a greater say in the selections. And I don't think that captains & coaches won't have a say because they are also accountable for results.
I personally believe that having 5 selectors along with a captain & coach in selections is an example of too many cooks spoiling the broth. And there's also the possibility of others in the board being involved too (there are past examples of it). I believe that at best, there
Will be sharing my thoughts on the squad of every IPL team after the recently concluded auction and if they have improved or not from the previous seasons on paper. Team 1 is Lucknow Supergiants.
LSG in KL, QdK, Hooda, Pooran & Stoinis have a very good Top 5 when it comes to skill. Their bowling and various all rounders make sure that balance will never be their issue. They are one team that can make do without the impact player rule.
For 3 seasons in a row, some would argue it's 4, KL Rahul has not batted the way he can. And that has had it's cascading effects. Apart from that, Stoinis's usage with the bat was poor by LSG last season. And their bowling didn't deliver as well as it should have.
Grateful to all those who offered their support today. The way I look at the sport, is to always make an attempt to look at things differently (specially not the clichéd & conventional manner), and in doing that, there are bound to be disagreements, many of them logical, and some
just out of stubbornness to change the convention. And it's also going to bring its share of trolling, coz why not.
Anyway, the point here is, I am not going to shy away from coming up with wild/unconventional possibilities and having conversations on that, because I feel
those discussions are the only way forward to enhance one's understanding of the sport. Specially when mainstream sports coverage has more or less stopped offering that. My handle will always be a space for those who want to engage on cricket merit respectfully, regardless of
There are few issues here with Kohli from what I have understood watching his game in recent times.
1. It's not an intent issue vs spin, it's a skill issue. He realises it, and that's why he tries to turn strike over. Lack of confidence means he's not using his feet enough.
Specially to come down the track.
2. Because he knows he's struggling vs spin, he's trying to over compensate against pace, to push up his SR, and thus becoming desperate, going for shots and trying to muscle a few, all while losing his shape.
3. This hasn't given the desired
results, and thus made him look a lot more muddled at the centre. The result is visible is in his dot ball, almost 39 this season, his highest ever since IPL 2012. Because he's not sure what he wants to do, he's either early, or late into his shots.