IPL 2025 Auction Review - Part I

[00:00:08] Hello and welcome to this week's episode of The Edges & Sledges Cricket Podcast. I am your host Ashwin, I'm joined by Varun. We are in the 10-day gap between the first and second test in India's tour of Australia, the Border Gamow's Cup trophy. Varun, we're not actually here to, for those who have seen the title of this episode, we're not actually here to talk too much about India, Australia. We're going to do our IPL 2025 Auction Recap and we're going to cover the first five teams. This will be a two-parter episode. Today we're going to cover the first five teams.

[00:00:38] first five teams and how they fared at the auction. First, let me take a deep breath and see how are you doing after the first test? Have you kind of enjoyed the celebrations? Are you nervous about the second test already, like me, the pink ball swinging around everywhere?

[00:00:51] Yeah, you're always nervous. That's the problem with Australia, right? You're always nervous. The World Test Championship stuff is also exciting in some sense, like New Zealand lost, which was great for India's chances, but South Africa had a crushing win, which put them second of the table.

[00:01:08] And so you almost just feel that I think if India just wins in Australia, they are through. But there's a complicated scenarios. But it's interesting. I know there was a Prime Minister's 11 game, which became kind of like an ODI match, right?

[00:01:23] Yeah, so it was supposed to be a two-day warm-up. I was disappointed. I couldn't find a way to stream it here in the US. I don't know if you actually got to watch.

[00:01:30] Cricket Australia app is showing it.

[00:01:32] Ah, maybe that's what it was.

[00:01:34] That's a great way for them to get new subscribers.

[00:01:36] Yeah, it's a good idea. But very quick. This is an IPL episode, but very quick. Two-day match. First day got rained out. A little bit of rain the second morning. Ended up becoming a 50-over game.

[00:01:45] A couple of things to highlight. Harshit Rana bowled. Picked up four wickets. So as we were starting to feel maybe he doesn't get his spot at this side, he obviously bowled well.

[00:01:57] So that's going to give some questions to the selector. However, Siraj picked up one and Akashthi picked up two. And Siraj bowled very, very tight.

[00:02:04] So one question on the pacers. But then mostly, Varun, the question is on the batters.

[00:02:09] Jaiswal and Rahul walked out to open, even though Gil and Rohit are both back.

[00:02:14] What was your kind of take on the opening combination? And what insight does it give you into the Adelaide Test match?

[00:02:21] Yeah, I mean, first insight of that, I thought Rohit's not interested. He's just gone to chill somewhere because he had been feeding for 50 overs.

[00:02:27] But no, all jokes aside, I think it was pretty good of him. I think they've given the indication that Jaiswal and Rahul will open and I think they should.

[00:02:37] I think Gil will bat at three as well. But that leaves me totally flabbergasted on where will Rohit Sharma bat.

[00:02:45] Like, I had a friend who said he would sleep very well at night if Kohli, Pant and Rohit were our four, five, six.

[00:02:52] And I said, yeah, that actually sounds great. But we've got no idea right now. We've got no clue.

[00:02:58] I actually think yours is the right read. I think versus the first 11, Padikal and Jarrell miss out, Gil and Rohit come back.

[00:03:06] Normally, you would have had Rahul get pushed down the order. But given how brilliantly he played as a new ball player and, you know, Rohit's been a little scratchy.

[00:03:14] I think Rohit maybe picks one or two tests to play at six and kind of leaves himself in a good position as the captain.

[00:03:22] Anyway, by the time some of you are listening to this, we will already know what's happening.

[00:03:25] If it's March and you're listening to this IPL preview episode as a preparation for the IPL season to start, you're wondering, what are we talking about?

[00:03:34] The Australia series is already over. But with that, let's talk about the IPL auction.

[00:03:38] So like I said, two-part episode, five teams we're going to cover today. And we're just going to go down in order of the points table from last year.

[00:03:47] And we'll just go down the first five teams. We're going to talk a little bit about who they bought in the auction, what were some of their surprise marquee buys,

[00:03:54] potentially a little bit about who they let go, and then how we think player 11s are shaking up. So you ready to go?

[00:04:01] Yeah, ready to go. And I just want to say, I don't know if last Sunday before the auction you heard,

[00:04:05] but when Pant and Kohli were batting, Kohli actually had to say that, don't worry about him hitting, he's going to go for a big price today.

[00:04:13] Like that was the kind of dynamics of how the auction started.

[00:04:17] But yeah, let's get into it. Let's get stuck in with, I think we're starting with last time's winner, right?

[00:04:22] Yeah, we are. And KKR was around a lot of big spending this auction.

[00:04:28] And by that, I mean, they let go of their skipper, Shreyas Ayer. They picked a backup, Venkates Ayer, for 23.75.

[00:04:36] Shreyas went for 26 plus. And yeah, let me just start by saying overall, what do you think about the auction?

[00:04:43] I mean, it seems like a winning team didn't want to change much. They did retain six.

[00:04:48] They bought back a couple of guys. So it feels like they were trying to recreate a very similar squad,

[00:04:52] minus, of course, losing their skipper, which was a huge change.

[00:04:55] Yeah. And I think we've talked about this a little bit, but so a couple of things.

[00:05:00] One, I think they did their retentions very well. I think if you look at it,

[00:05:04] no player was given 20 odd crores like Klaassen and Kohli were.

[00:05:08] Everyone was in that middle range. And I think there were great conversations that were probably had around,

[00:05:12] this is a core we want to retain. So Russell, Narayan, Rinku, Harshit, Chakravarti,

[00:05:19] and I think one more, they were all kind of retained. Right.

[00:05:23] And with Gambhir leading...

[00:05:26] Ramandeep was the last...

[00:05:27] Ramandeep. Yeah.

[00:05:28] Ramandeep. Yeah.

[00:05:29] So I think with Gambhir kind of leading, and I think Shreyas probably knew he's going to get a big payout.

[00:05:35] It just didn't work out. So he was out.

[00:05:36] Now, I think if I look through the squad, I think their retention game to me was better than their auction game.

[00:05:46] But that makes sense. More than 50% of the playing 11 were already retained.

[00:05:50] Yeah.

[00:05:50] So they needed an opener. So they got Quinton de Kock and they bought back Gurbaz.

[00:05:55] So I think that's pretty sorted from an opening perspective.

[00:05:59] I think Venki Hayan was just shocking to me.

[00:06:02] Like, I know he can bat at three and I definitely don't think he's worth 23 odd crores.

[00:06:09] Because think about it, he's just got a 75 crore payout over three years. Right.

[00:06:12] And I think while he's crucial, he doesn't really bowl.

[00:06:16] He probably hits two or three great innings in a season.

[00:06:19] I just feel they're overpaid.

[00:06:21] And I think they kind of lost sight of building this core again.

[00:06:25] And that was my view. I don't know what your take on Venki Hayan was.

[00:06:28] Yeah, I think it's very interesting.

[00:06:29] Like, I think they obviously wanted to build the core back and they knew they were letting Shreyas go.

[00:06:34] I think they did get caught up in a bidding war.

[00:06:36] I don't think they expected Venki.

[00:06:37] I think they probably may have had a cap of 15, 17 crore, maybe 18 for Venki.

[00:06:42] And he ended up going for 23.75.

[00:06:44] So I think he ended up going for more.

[00:06:46] But by that point, this is what makes auctions so insane as a format and magical in some way.

[00:06:51] But by that point, they were committed.

[00:06:53] And so they knew they were going to get him.

[00:06:56] They had made the strategic decision.

[00:06:57] We're going to let go of Shreyas.

[00:06:58] We're going to pick up Venkatesh, whatever it takes.

[00:07:00] And they ended up getting him.

[00:07:02] Now, I think it'll be interesting to see.

[00:07:04] He's had a decent kind of run in the Sayyid Mushtaqari that's been going on,

[00:07:07] made a series of mid-20s, mid-30s scores.

[00:07:11] He is bowling a little bit.

[00:07:12] So I wonder if there's a little bit of an intent to come back and start bowling.

[00:07:16] But yeah, obviously, that was the big pick.

[00:07:18] I think a couple of others I'll highlight.

[00:07:22] They did go really big after Nitish Rana.

[00:07:24] So that would again have been their core.

[00:07:26] But they didn't win that one.

[00:07:28] And so who did they pick up instead?

[00:07:30] Manish Pandey and Ajinkya Rahane.

[00:07:32] And I think that's weak and interesting for that.

[00:07:34] As much as if DJ were here, he would make fun of me.

[00:07:37] And I am a big Manish Pandey fan.

[00:07:38] And Varun, does either or both of them get a shot even in this XI?

[00:07:42] Or do they play the younger guys like the young Krisha Guwanshi and then beef up their bowling, essentially?

[00:07:49] Firstly, I have no idea why you're such a Manish Pandey fan.

[00:07:51] It makes no sense.

[00:07:52] At this point, it's just the ongoing storyline, right?

[00:07:55] So I love it.

[00:07:56] Yeah.

[00:07:56] So firstly that.

[00:07:57] Secondly, somebody told me yesterday that every time KKR has won, Manish Pandey has been a part of the sport.

[00:08:02] So let's...

[00:08:03] We should get started to fact-check that.

[00:08:05] But thirdly, I mean, with guys like Ankarish or Guwanshi and stuff,

[00:08:12] like your Manish Pandey and Rahane are not going to get a chance.

[00:08:14] I just think they're good backups.

[00:08:17] But that's what I meant by I don't think the auction strategy was great.

[00:08:20] Yes, they got back Ankarish and Gurbaz.

[00:08:24] But yeah, I don't think that part of the auction was so good for me.

[00:08:29] So I think where this leaves them is essentially, I think they've got a strong bowling core.

[00:08:36] I think they've got a decent batting lineup.

[00:08:39] But a lot depends on Narayan and Russell, which it has for the last 10 years.

[00:08:43] And then I just think, you know, some smart decisions, I would say like a Rovman-Powell.

[00:08:48] I think you have to start planning for the next three-year cycle beyond Russell.

[00:08:52] And then the interesting one for me is they needed this overseas pacer, right?

[00:08:57] So they've bought both Nokia and Spencer Johnson.

[00:09:00] So Spencer Johnson, even as I was in Perth in the stands, a lot of people were talking about him.

[00:09:05] So it'll be an interesting one, but definitely one of these two guys.

[00:09:09] So overall, I would say, look, they're a trophy-winning team.

[00:09:13] I think their core is strong.

[00:09:14] They retain some of the key guys.

[00:09:16] So I would say strong squad.

[00:09:18] Yeah, I think what's interesting is we probably doubted them a little on paper, even last year.

[00:09:22] And they won the trophy and they're backing what worked for a large part.

[00:09:26] It's fair to thought for Mohin Ali, who was also picked up.

[00:09:28] But I don't see him making his way into an 11 that has Narayan, Russell, Gurbaaz, Nokia, probably as you're starting for.

[00:09:36] Then Spencer Johnson, then Rovman-Powell.

[00:09:37] Mohin is probably seventh on the list of four overseas slots.

[00:09:41] And that's going to be really interesting for him.

[00:09:44] All right, one team down.

[00:09:46] So Varun, let's go to the second team from last year's points table.

[00:09:51] And that is one who you love to talk about, the Sunrisers, Hyderabad.

[00:09:55] I'll give a quick rundown and then I'll get your kind of point of view.

[00:09:59] Very similar, actually.

[00:10:00] I think they tried to keep their core fairly similar, right?

[00:10:03] So their attentions were Klaassen, Pat Cummins, of course, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma,

[00:10:08] or Head Sheik as they came to be lovingly known.

[00:10:10] And Nithish Reddy, who is really now on everybody's radar as one of India's newest test match players as well.

[00:10:18] So those were the core that they stuck to.

[00:10:21] I think what was really interesting is the two big changes.

[00:10:24] They let go of Bhuvna Eshwar Kumar and they let go of Tina Trajan,

[00:10:30] which is two big losses in terms of Indian quicks.

[00:10:33] But they invested back in Mohamed Shami and Harshal Patel.

[00:10:37] And so let me pause and ask you that question.

[00:10:40] Like if you were trading out Bhuvia and Natarajan to bring in Shami and Patel,

[00:10:44] how would you be feeling on paper?

[00:10:46] I would, I mean, I think, I think they managed to get to like for like kind of bowlers, right?

[00:10:55] So I would say walking out of the auction, I would be pretty happy if I was SRH.

[00:11:00] I think you're right on the Natarajan and the Bhuvia decision.

[00:11:03] They've just been with them so long.

[00:11:05] They understand the culture, the team, the setup.

[00:11:07] So I think I would have loved to see if SRH retained one of them at least

[00:11:11] or found a way to get one of them just to keep that core bowling.

[00:11:14] But I mean, are we seriously saying that Shami and Harshal are not better than Bhuvia and Natarajan?

[00:11:21] I would say I think Shami and Harshal are probably better.

[00:11:24] I think Shami is no question better.

[00:11:25] I think Harshal has been better, but he's had a rough last couple of seasons.

[00:11:30] Yeah, he still picks up wickets, but anyway, he hasn't quite been as reliable.

[00:11:33] So I think it's probably net close to even for them on the Indian quicks front, maybe slightly better.

[00:11:39] A couple other interesting, interesting pickups, right?

[00:11:42] So Brighton Kars, they picked him up.

[00:11:44] The British quick, who is just one player of the match in England's test, in England's test squad.

[00:11:50] So that's going to be really interesting.

[00:11:51] Jadir Van Nadkat picked up a guy in a Sri Lankan quick named Ishan Malinga.

[00:11:55] Which I don't know if that was just for the name or not, but that'll be interesting.

[00:11:59] Not a player I transparently know too much about.

[00:12:01] Spin twins, Rahul Chahar and Adam Zampa, which is going to be really interesting to see if they both get to play together.

[00:12:07] And the last and final one, which was a little bit of a surprise for me because I don't exactly see how he fits in.

[00:12:14] 11.25 crores for Ishan Kishan.

[00:12:17] Let's talk about some of these ones, Farhan.

[00:12:19] What is your take on Kishan first?

[00:12:21] So again, I thought it was very, very surprising.

[00:12:23] I thought there were many other teams that Kishan could have fit much better in, that they probably should have gone for.

[00:12:32] Kishan has been getting this above 10, 11 crores consistently, right?

[00:12:36] So there is a value against the team.

[00:12:38] He is a keeper.

[00:12:40] In fact, I'm just looking through the list.

[00:12:41] Is he?

[00:12:41] No, Klaassen is the keeper, right?

[00:12:43] So it feels like a misfit.

[00:12:46] Now what I would say is, I think SRIH auction went so well that if Kishan at 11 is your kind of misfit in the team,

[00:12:53] I think overall it's been a success, right?

[00:12:57] That's how I see it.

[00:12:58] As I'm looking through, you've got four very clear overseas players, Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Klaassen and Zampa, right?

[00:13:06] Where earlier they couldn't even fit Markram and Jansen in every game.

[00:13:09] So I think they've got a clear strategy there.

[00:13:13] Bowling is also pretty sorted between Cummins, Shami, Harshal, Rahul Chahal and Zampa.

[00:13:18] So you've got five clear bowlers.

[00:13:20] Yeah, but Cummins needing to bat at seven may be a potential weakness,

[00:13:22] but that's where they may use their impact.

[00:13:25] Exactly.

[00:13:25] So coming to impact, this is the weakness I see in the SRH team.

[00:13:29] Interesting.

[00:13:29] I feel like they have no bench strength, right?

[00:13:33] Because once you finish that 11, you're talking about Atharvath Haideh, Abhinav Mohar, Simarjit Singh, Zeeshan Ansari, Jaidevan Atkar, Brighton Kars, Kamindu Mendes, Anike Dwarma, Ishaan Malinga and Sachin Baby.

[00:13:44] Sorry.

[00:13:45] I had to run through all because I wanted to make my point.

[00:13:47] Yeah.

[00:13:48] If any of these top 11 or 12 get injured, I think that is going to be their weakness.

[00:13:53] I mean, I think you actually have to play Sachin Baby, Abhinav Manohar and or some combination of them because you mentioned the five bowlers.

[00:14:01] Then you're playing Abhishek, Sharma, Travis Head, Ishaan Kishan as your top three, essentially.

[00:14:07] Nitish Reddy and Heinrich Klassen as your four or five.

[00:14:10] So you've got your top five and you've got your five bowlers, I guess you said.

[00:14:14] So one of the lists you said, probably Abhinav Manohar would play in all-round capabilities.

[00:14:18] But yeah, I think you're spot on that a little bit of a weak middle order Indian, lower middle order lineup and weak backups.

[00:14:29] Yeah.

[00:14:29] And that's where you might end up seeing Kishan play in the middle order.

[00:14:33] Yeah.

[00:14:33] Right?

[00:14:34] You might actually see that.

[00:14:35] So anyway, it'll be interesting.

[00:14:37] Yeah.

[00:14:38] Varun, let me ask you the one question I forgot to ask about KKR before we keep going.

[00:14:43] Venkatesha Ayer came back in.

[00:14:44] He's made a comment about it.

[00:14:46] But who do we think actually captains the Kolkata Nightriders team without Shreyas Ayer around in a lineup that could be Narayan Gurbaz, Venkatesha Ayer, Ankrishra Guvanshi, call it Manish Pandey slash Rahane, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Nokia, Varun Chakravarti, Harshit Rana, maybe Vabha Varora.

[00:15:10] None of these guys is captain.

[00:15:11] Like I've listed the names and none of them is a captain necessarily.

[00:15:13] So does Venkatesha get the nod?

[00:15:15] I mean, for his price, I think he should be captain, coach, mentor, everything, right?

[00:15:19] And carry drinks and all of the above.

[00:15:21] Everything.

[00:15:22] But I think it's just going to be a toss-up between Rinku and Venkatesha.

[00:15:25] I don't think, like you said, anyone is ready yet.

[00:15:28] But again, this team has such a strong support staff that they will probably look to pick one of these two guys and then groom them for three years.

[00:15:36] So that's the way I see it.

[00:15:38] All right.

[00:15:38] Two teams down.

[00:15:40] Varun, let's take a very quick break.

[00:15:41] We'll come back and talk about the next three teams in part one of this IPL 2025 preview as we summarize the auction.

[00:15:57] Welcome back to the Edges and Sledges Cricket Podcast.

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[00:16:19] All right.

[00:16:20] Varun, number three on last year's points table.

[00:16:23] The Rajasthan Royals.

[00:16:26] Another kind of six retentions in Jaswal, Samson, Jurel, Parag, Sandeep Sharma, and then Shimran Hatmayer.

[00:16:35] You want to run me down kind of what else you saw from this auction pick and then we can chat about it?

[00:16:39] Yeah.

[00:16:40] So, again, I think when you look at top three teams, you understand understanding why they retain so many players.

[00:16:45] Of course.

[00:16:45] They have a very strong core.

[00:16:47] These guys, of course, have gone strong with Indian core and batting core.

[00:16:52] So, to me, the problem was that, you know, I feel like you didn't value the bowling as much in this retention strategy

[00:16:59] because you had Bolt, Ashwin, Chahal, and Sandeep Sharma, of course.

[00:17:05] So, they retain Sandeep Sharma, which I think is a good move.

[00:17:08] He's a gem of a boulder.

[00:17:10] So, I think that was good.

[00:17:11] But what they've got now is they've got Joffra Archer, Hasranga Thikshana, and Tushar Deshpande, and Fazal Faruqi.

[00:17:22] I would say those are the top five names as I'm thinking.

[00:17:25] So, you have covered the spinners.

[00:17:27] You've covered the pacers.

[00:17:29] But I don't know about Archer's fitness.

[00:17:31] But by the way, not a single Indian spinner.

[00:17:33] I mean, they technically have Kumar Karthikeya, who was picked up at 30 likes.

[00:17:37] But no Indian spinner.

[00:17:39] For it seems that Ash and Chahal bowling in tandem feels very odd, right?

[00:17:43] Sorry.

[00:17:43] Yeah.

[00:17:43] So, basically, that's what's going to happen, right?

[00:17:45] You're going to have Hetmeyer in your top six as the overseas player.

[00:17:48] And then you're going to have three bowlers.

[00:17:52] Which, if it pays off, I mean, if these guys work out, I think it'll pay off.

[00:17:56] But Archer fitness, I'm not sure.

[00:17:58] Hasranga fitness, I think he's okay now.

[00:18:00] But last IPL, he wasn't there.

[00:18:02] Tiksana, I think, has been good with Dhoni behind the stumps.

[00:18:06] But he's not been their standout bowler.

[00:18:08] So, and then similarly, Tushar.

[00:18:11] So, you've picked up two guys from CSK, both who had a huge influence of having Dhoni behind the stumps.

[00:18:17] So, my honest assessment is the bowling is not up to the mark.

[00:18:23] And I think that's going to cost them.

[00:18:25] Now, again, I can't remember Rajasthan's page.

[00:18:27] I don't know if this works on seven games in home season for them.

[00:18:32] But just looking at this, the bowling looks a little bit weak.

[00:18:36] Yeah, I think it's interesting.

[00:18:37] I don't think, on paper, if you said Hasranga, Jofra, Archer, Thikshana, and Sandeep Sharma, it's not bad.

[00:18:43] But I think the inability to have any Indian spin, I'm harping on this, but with no Indian spinner that you would start in year 11 necessarily,

[00:18:51] it means you have to basically, even at the away games, right?

[00:18:55] Imagine you're playing in Chennai.

[00:18:56] You have to play Hasranga.

[00:18:58] You have to play Thikshana.

[00:18:59] Like, those are really your options.

[00:19:01] Then that means one of Fazal or Jofra or Fazal Jofra, who's the other quick?

[00:19:09] Anyway, one of those guys has to sit out, right?

[00:19:12] Because you're playing two Sri Lankan spinners in Hasranga and Thikshana.

[00:19:17] So, suddenly you have a big name quick bowler missing out.

[00:19:21] I mean, Fazal Hakfaruki had a phenomenal World Cup.

[00:19:23] For him to not be playing in a T20 format, to your point, depends on Archer's fitness, etc.

[00:19:29] But yeah, I think that's a big gap they've left out.

[00:19:31] You never know.

[00:19:32] Sometimes these unkept guys get picked up in the offseason, things like that.

[00:19:35] So, maybe they have their eye on some younger guys.

[00:19:37] Maybe there's people I don't really know about, but that seems like a weakness.

[00:19:40] Maybe Rian Parag plays a bigger role with the ball.

[00:19:43] I mean, he's been bowling for Team India in T20s, right?

[00:19:47] So, but let's talk about this top five really quickly then.

[00:19:51] I mean, anybody would kill to have a top five, a top five, 60, 20 of Jaiswal, Samson, Rian Parag,

[00:19:59] Nitish Rana, Dhruv Jarrell, Indian.

[00:20:01] And then you round that out with Jim Rohn-Hatmajer.

[00:20:04] That is just, that may be the best top five Indian players in this entire tournament, right?

[00:20:10] I mean, all of them can, maybe not Rana, but the rest of them are Team India players.

[00:20:14] Yeah, it is a very solid top five.

[00:20:17] I think they've done a good job by retaining these guys, believing in them.

[00:20:21] And I think they're going to get kind of the results from that.

[00:20:25] I have to call out though that I think Butler is a huge loss.

[00:20:29] Yeah.

[00:20:29] Because Joss Butler and RR have just been synonymous, right?

[00:20:33] So, I think that is going to be something that is going to be a challenge for them to fill those shoes.

[00:20:41] And then, I think it just depends on how good Hettmeyer is.

[00:20:45] He's shown that he can do it and he's getting better.

[00:20:48] But overall, man, like my sense of this is they are probably the same, if not a little bit weaker than last year.

[00:20:57] That is just my gut feeling.

[00:20:59] Yeah, very interesting.

[00:21:00] Well said.

[00:21:01] Right.

[00:21:02] We're on two teams to go in this part of the episode.

[00:21:05] Fourth place from last year.

[00:21:06] So, it's interesting that the top three teams all were heavy retention, heavy maintain your core, etc.

[00:21:11] Then you have a team who finished fourth off of five back-to-back wins in last year's IPL, if you remember that.

[00:21:16] Five, six maybe in a row.

[00:21:18] They just went crazy in the home stretch.

[00:21:21] And that's the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

[00:21:23] Three retentions.

[00:21:25] Three retentions only with Virat, of course.

[00:21:28] No question about that one.

[00:21:29] Rajat Patidar and Yash Dayal were the three retentions.

[00:21:33] So, let me pause and just ask you on that.

[00:21:36] And by the way, adding in, they had Mohamed Siraj, Glenn Maxwell, Will Jacks, all available for them with the right to match.

[00:21:44] And they didn't use it on anybody.

[00:21:45] What was RCB thinking?

[00:21:46] Is this the eighth tier in a row they're needing to rebuild to try to win a trophy?

[00:21:51] Yeah, it was.

[00:21:52] As I was watching this auction unfold, I was just like, what is RCB doing?

[00:21:56] Like, they're just doing the same.

[00:21:58] Is that a familiar feeling?

[00:22:00] Yeah, I was just thinking about it.

[00:22:02] And then when I looked at the squad at the end of it, I said, okay, it's not that bad.

[00:22:07] I would give them some credit.

[00:22:09] But again, I just feel like they've not invested in their bowling.

[00:22:12] Now, again, it comes back to this entire strategy being around playing half your games at Chinnaswami.

[00:22:17] And it could be just a batting paradise.

[00:22:21] So you want to, you know, level up there.

[00:22:23] But they've never had a problem there.

[00:22:25] So we should talk about this.

[00:22:27] But, you know, to me, I think a few questions.

[00:22:30] One, who's the captain, right?

[00:22:32] Because if you think of their top order, it's essentially Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, right?

[00:22:39] Which I think was a great buy to partner with Kohli up top.

[00:22:43] Then you've got Rajat Patizar, a retention, right?

[00:22:45] You've got Padikal, who has been a bit of a hit-on-miss, can't understand what his role is now.

[00:22:50] Yeah.

[00:22:51] Right?

[00:22:51] And then you've got Jitesh Sharma.

[00:22:53] So I think that's your wicket-keeping slot sorted.

[00:22:55] And I think he's done well.

[00:22:56] Yeah.

[00:22:56] You've then got two big hitters in Liam Livingston and Tim David.

[00:23:00] And I think that those, to me, were good buys.

[00:23:02] Because RCB has typically, you know, fallen off the cliff as you get to number five.

[00:23:07] And they're not able to close out the games.

[00:23:09] So I think Tim David and Liam Livingston, to me, are going to be the guys who are going to close out a lot of games for them.

[00:23:16] And I think that's positive.

[00:23:17] And just by the way, I'm not sure Tim David walks necessarily into that 11.

[00:23:21] Because they picked up at 2.6 crore Jacob Bethel, the English cricketer, who, 21 years old.

[00:23:28] Strike rate of 167.9 in T20 eyes.

[00:23:32] Just a massive hitter of the ball.

[00:23:34] And so it could be really interesting.

[00:23:35] And he's lefty.

[00:23:36] So if you look at the top order that you mentioned, Kohli, Saur, Patithar, etc., they may need a lefty presence in there.

[00:23:42] So Tim David actually might be a guy who misses out.

[00:23:45] Or they have to do some creative stuff with the bowling.

[00:23:47] Yeah.

[00:23:48] Yeah.

[00:23:48] No, I think that's fair.

[00:23:49] So I think just, I think my reaction to that is, given big names, I think they'll start with Tim David.

[00:23:54] Like how they didn't start with Will Jacks.

[00:23:56] And they'll slowly get there.

[00:23:58] Yeah.

[00:23:58] Based on team composition.

[00:23:59] But either way, all three great.

[00:24:01] Now it comes to the bowling, right?

[00:24:03] So you've got, I'm just looking through this list.

[00:24:06] You picked up Josh Hazelwood.

[00:24:08] Josh Hazelwood, of course.

[00:24:09] The big one they picked up who we talked, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.

[00:24:13] Yeah.

[00:24:13] Which is going to be big.

[00:24:14] So they dropped Siraj for his potential wickets but volatility.

[00:24:17] And picked up Bhuvan for just solid line and length type of playing.

[00:24:23] I think that was a really wise call.

[00:24:25] I think that's what RCB had missed.

[00:24:27] Four overs.

[00:24:27] Bhuvaneshwar can now bowl early on, new ball and at the death.

[00:24:32] And he's just a guy, whoever the captain is, which you didn't answer the question, which was who's going to captain.

[00:24:37] Whoever it is can throw the ball to Bhuvaneshwar, right?

[00:24:40] You know, if you go for three bad overs and it's the 12th, give him one more.

[00:24:43] If you start strong, save him for the death.

[00:24:45] Like, I think he's a really, really solid pick.

[00:24:48] They also retained Yash Dayal, who is a choice they're making.

[00:24:52] Lefty, good quick bowler.

[00:24:54] And then they picked up Rasik Salam from Delhi, which is another interesting one.

[00:24:58] Because he played for quite a bit, right?

[00:25:00] And they picked him up for six crores.

[00:25:03] Yeah.

[00:25:03] Pretty competitive.

[00:25:04] And then you rounded out with Kronil Pandya, who might play at six, seven-ish.

[00:25:08] And it's not bad.

[00:25:10] It is not the best bowling lineup of the tournament.

[00:25:12] But it's not bad, right?

[00:25:13] When you start thinking about it that way.

[00:25:15] Correct.

[00:25:15] So, I agree.

[00:25:16] So, Yash Dayal, Hazelwood.

[00:25:19] Bovee and Rasik.

[00:25:20] Kronil and Rasik.

[00:25:22] And then you've got Suya Sharma as your impact bowler.

[00:25:25] Yeah.

[00:25:25] And then you potentially play Liam Livingston in the middle order, who can give you some

[00:25:29] leg spin.

[00:25:30] And they spend 8.75 on him.

[00:25:32] And you're starting to see how it can come together, right?

[00:25:36] Yeah.

[00:25:36] So, I think they're basically either going to go left field and give Patidar the captaincy,

[00:25:42] given they retained him.

[00:25:43] Under the eyes of Kohli.

[00:25:45] Or they give Kohli captaincy.

[00:25:47] But I think everyone assumed Kohli was captain.

[00:25:49] But Arshik, we actually put out a note saying, we haven't decided.

[00:25:52] So, I think Rajas Patidar might be the left field.

[00:25:55] Yeah.

[00:25:56] It could be very, very interesting.

[00:25:58] I don't see them giving it to an overseas guy because they don't have the certainty there.

[00:26:02] But it'll be interesting.

[00:26:03] All right, Varun.

[00:26:04] Last and final one.

[00:26:06] This is an exciting one.

[00:26:07] I'm sad, actually, we're covering this one without DJ here.

[00:26:09] But it's an exciting one for those fans of retro, the fans of old is new again, bringing

[00:26:15] the core back.

[00:26:16] And I am talking, if you haven't figured it out yet, of the team that placed fifth in last

[00:26:19] year's points table.

[00:26:20] And that is the Chennai Super Kings.

[00:26:23] Chennai Super Kings.

[00:26:25] M.S. Dhani, Ravindra Jaleja, Shivam Dube, Pathirana, and Guy Quad retained.

[00:26:30] No major surprises there, right?

[00:26:32] Like, we knew that was going to happen.

[00:26:34] Dhani, I think, technically in these new rules is uncapped because he's no longer playing

[00:26:38] for Team India, which is a discussion for another day.

[00:26:41] But some really interesting choices.

[00:26:43] And they went pretty big behind a couple of names, right?

[00:26:46] Noor Ahmad has a spin option, along with, of course, back in yellow, Ravi Ashwin.

[00:26:52] So let me first start you there.

[00:26:53] Spin, can you see those guys bowling in tandem on the Cheypok wicket with Jadija as your third

[00:26:59] spinner?

[00:26:59] I mean, how great is that going to be?

[00:27:01] Yeah, it's pretty cool.

[00:27:02] It'll be, I mean, I was quite excited to see Ashwin go back there, hopefully finish off

[00:27:05] his career, IPL career.

[00:27:07] I mean, you just, you just want to see Ash and Jadija bowling to Dhoni behind the stumps

[00:27:11] and just, just get those goosebumps again.

[00:27:13] It's great.

[00:27:14] It's genuinely great.

[00:27:15] So I was excited about that.

[00:27:17] I do think Noor, though, has an edge.

[00:27:19] And I think if it's Jadija and one more spinner, it'll probably be Noor.

[00:27:23] But again, with this impact player, you're probably going to have all three of them.

[00:27:26] So as I was talking, I realized that.

[00:27:28] So I think that is fun.

[00:27:30] I think on the bowling side, when they lost Desh Pandey, I think there was a little bit

[00:27:36] of, oh, we've groomed him.

[00:27:37] But then when they lost Deepak Chahar, you could very clearly see Fleming kind of had his face

[00:27:42] in his hands.

[00:27:42] I think that was a big miss for them.

[00:27:44] And it makes sense that Dhoni is the kind of guy who wants to get back his bowlers, that

[00:27:49] he's groomed and he can really work on them.

[00:27:50] That's just his style all through his career.

[00:27:53] So I think those are two big misses.

[00:27:55] And actually, you could tell that on day two of the auction, they went behind a lot of Indian,

[00:28:00] younger Indian quicks.

[00:28:02] So you can tell that they wanted them.

[00:28:04] They didn't get them.

[00:28:05] And then they picked up more.

[00:28:06] They picked up Anshul Kamboj.

[00:28:08] They picked up Mukesh Chaudhary.

[00:28:09] They picked up Kamlesh Nagar Koti.

[00:28:10] You know, these quicks that can help fill that void.

[00:28:14] But I think what you recognize, they very clearly recognized as well that we're lacking

[00:28:18] a little bit of that Indian quick bowling.

[00:28:20] I think they have Nathan Ellis as well, who can be a death bowler for them.

[00:28:24] But yeah, they're a little short on Indian quicks essentially.

[00:28:27] Yeah, exactly.

[00:28:29] So just talking about the bowling finishing that off, they've also got Sam Curran, which

[00:28:33] I think him and his like...

[00:28:35] 2.4 crores.

[00:28:36] I mean like 18 crores, 2 crores is a bit crazy.

[00:28:39] But again, I think he'll be happy going back to Revest Dhoni's setup in CSK.

[00:28:45] And then the last one, sorry, is Khalil.

[00:28:47] Yeah.

[00:28:47] 4.8 they spent on Khalil.

[00:28:49] So go ahead.

[00:28:49] Which I think Khalil was coming into his own.

[00:28:51] So I think again, having a Dhoni man CSK mentorship will probably do wonders for him.

[00:28:56] So I would say bowling good, but again, not great, right?

[00:29:02] In my opinion.

[00:29:04] Now coming to the batting now.

[00:29:06] So you've got Guyquard and they went hard for Conway.

[00:29:08] You always knew Conway is coming.

[00:29:09] No question.

[00:29:09] Yeah.

[00:29:09] There was no question about that.

[00:29:11] But what I found interesting is that this number three who's, you know, in the past has

[00:29:15] been a Rahane, Utthapa in the last five years or so.

[00:29:18] I think they got Rahul to party, which I liked, right?

[00:29:21] They went big for him too.

[00:29:22] 3.4 crores.

[00:29:23] Yeah.

[00:29:24] Yeah.

[00:29:24] How many?

[00:29:24] How much?

[00:29:25] 3.4.

[00:29:26] So, okay.

[00:29:27] I mean, for the kind of results he's had and stuff, it was a little bit of a bidding

[00:29:33] war.

[00:29:33] But yeah.

[00:29:33] Yeah.

[00:29:33] Yeah.

[00:29:34] So I think that part was interesting.

[00:29:36] They've also got Deepak Huda, who has, again, had potential, but has just fallen off.

[00:29:41] He's just, Lucknow, he just did nothing.

[00:29:43] So I would say interesting to see him kind of as a revival.

[00:29:48] And then you've got your key guys, right?

[00:29:50] Which is your Shivam, Dubes, your Lachin, Ravindras, and your Jadejas down the order.

[00:29:55] So again, I think pretty balanced side.

[00:29:58] CSK kind of always knows how to make it work.

[00:30:01] And yeah, overall, overall good team.

[00:30:04] Ashwin, I was not sure if there was another keeper in that mix.

[00:30:08] Because there was a lot of chat about going for Pant.

[00:30:11] But they didn't even bid because I think they realized that Pant is going to be the highest bid.

[00:30:15] Yeah.

[00:30:15] He ended up going for too much.

[00:30:16] I don't see another keeper, actually, now that you mention it, which is very interesting.

[00:30:21] Honestly, one of the younger guys, whoever, Andre, Andre Siddharth, and some of these guys might be keepers.

[00:30:29] But I'm not seeing another wicketkeeper, which is very, very interesting.

[00:30:33] That sort of is backing on, I'm sure somebody can do it, but that's backing on Amaz Dhoni being wicketkeeper for the entire tournament.

[00:30:42] Exactly.

[00:30:42] So that was the risk.

[00:30:44] Yeah.

[00:30:44] All right.

[00:30:45] Always fun to go through.

[00:30:46] Difficult to run through five teams in 30 minutes, but we did it.

[00:30:48] Half the team's done.

[00:30:49] And interesting, but around four of the top five stayed very similar, very, very similar core for Hyderabad, Rajasthan, Kolkata, and Chennai.

[00:30:59] And then quite a different looking setup for RCB.

[00:31:02] As we get to the second half of the teams, the Delhi's, the Punjabs of the world, you see some significant changes.

[00:31:07] But of course, we will cover that in part two.

[00:31:09] This has been the Edges and Slides Cricket Podcast.

[00:31:11] Thank you all for tuning in.

[00:31:12] Leave us a comment.

[00:31:13] Leave us a message.

[00:31:14] We will be back next week to talk, or part two of this IPL auction recap.

[00:31:20] And of course, we get back into the Vora Gavaskar trophy coming soon.

[00:31:23] This is the Edges and Slides Cricket Podcast, signing off.