IPL 2025 Auction Review - Part II

[00:00:08] Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Edges & Sledges Cricket Podcast. This is a Part 2 of our two-part IPL 2025 team preview. I'm your host Ashwin, I'm joined by Varun. Varun, welcome back. Nice to be getting back together. Second time to preview the second six teams, second five teams to make the total of 10. From six to 10 last year, we're going to go through five more teams. How are you doing man? Adelaide Pinkball test starts soon, lots going on.

[00:00:36] Yeah, just a few hours to Adelaide Pinkball test. By the time listeners are hearing this, they'll probably see that. But generally excited man, like these next few teams that we're going to discuss have been the powerhouses of IPL over the last 17 years. The big teams, Delhi, Punjab and a few more. Let's get into it.

[00:00:56] Yeah, if you haven't picked up on it, Sarcasm, Delhi and Punjab are in there. I will say that, so for those who didn't catch the first episode, go back and check out Part 1. We covered the teams that ranked one through five in the 2024 IPL season. So now we're going through six to 10. We're going to cover how their auction went, what their expected kind of teams look like, and just how they're shaping up, how it's looking for them going into the 2025 IPL season.

[00:01:21] Varun, you said, we'll do them at the end, but you said powerhouses. And actually the last team last year, the 10th placed team in 2024 was the Mumbai Indians. So you could argue all those were ranking them as the coming in wooden spoon holders. They are, they have won a lot of titles. And anyway, we'll get into it.

[00:01:41] Varun, why don't we start with Delhi? So we're going to continue the same format as we did in Part 1 of this episode, the Delhi Capitals.

[00:01:48] Six, excuse me, four retentions. Akshar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Abhishek Perel.

[00:01:54] Let me start by asking on paper, I mean, the retention, retained players are Virat Kohli, Jadeja, Rutturaj Gaikwa, Jaswal, Samson, this type of profile.

[00:02:07] Is it a little underwhelming that Tristan Stubbs and Abhishek Perel were retained? Obviously Akshar and Kuldeep are class acts, but it doesn't seem like the caliber of T20, major T20 powerhouses that Delhi chose to retain.

[00:02:21] Is that just a function of their, the year they had, or just walk me through the strategy there?

[00:02:26] Yeah, I think it's, we don't, I'm saying we, because we are all Delhi supporters, but we don't really have that powerhouse.

[00:02:34] And when we did in the past, right from the start of the IPL for the first 10 years, we've had names like AB De Villiers, right?

[00:02:42] And it's just not worked out. So there's, we've always said this with Delhi, there's probably a little bit of a deeper cause here, management, culture, mindset that needs to change before all of this evolves.

[00:02:54] But having said that, I think, you know, with Rishabh Pant coming into the auction, I didn't even see any other big name to retain.

[00:03:03] So I think if you ask my honest opinion, I'm not that upset with Delhi's retention or the auction.

[00:03:09] You mentioned Akshar and Kuldeep, nobody needs to say anything.

[00:03:12] I would say top one, probably one of the top all-rounders and top spinners of the Indian cricket scene today.

[00:03:18] So I think no doubt there.

[00:03:20] I think Abhishek Porel, interesting one.

[00:03:22] I think you want a wicketkeeper because the demand for wicketkeepers is high.

[00:03:26] If you, you know, end up spending 15 crores on an average keeper, you will probably regret it.

[00:03:31] And he has shown promise.

[00:03:32] And this is an example of a guy who you need to kind of groom.

[00:03:35] And lastly, Stubbs, man.

[00:03:37] Stubbs has done very well, right?

[00:03:40] Test century recently.

[00:03:41] I was just looking through all these guys are making test centuries.

[00:03:44] We'll come to the acquisitions.

[00:03:46] So I think Stubbs is again one for the future.

[00:03:48] So I'm not unhappy with it.

[00:03:50] Now, as we kickstart the auction part, let me tell you what I was hoping for.

[00:03:55] I was hoping that they use the right to match for Jake, Freja McGurk, and Mukesh Kumar, right?

[00:04:02] And they did exactly that.

[00:04:04] And they did exactly that.

[00:04:05] So we read it perfectly.

[00:04:07] Those were the two names that I was hoping for.

[00:04:10] Look, Jake hasn't done as much for Australia.

[00:04:12] But I think on flatter Indian pitches, where he can kind of stand tall and kind of complete his swing, I think he will be valuable.

[00:04:22] Keep in mind, though, that teams will figure out strategies.

[00:04:25] It is very new to them.

[00:04:26] But when Jake played, Delhi's kind of seasoned turned.

[00:04:29] So I was happy with these two retentions.

[00:04:32] Now, let's talk a little bit about the batting, because I've always felt that that's been Delhi's weakness.

[00:04:37] We picked up a pure test team.

[00:04:39] We've picked up KL Rahul.

[00:04:41] We've picked up Harry Brooks.

[00:04:43] And we've picked up Karun Nayar.

[00:04:45] Two of the last four matches Harry Brooks played made a triple century and 171.

[00:04:50] Yeah, exactly.

[00:04:51] Test matches, that is.

[00:04:52] But yeah.

[00:04:53] Now, I think there's a, like, KL Rahul, okay, let's take the jokes aside.

[00:04:58] I think he is doing better.

[00:05:01] I think so long as he doesn't insist on opening, I think it's a pretty good pick as a leader and a number three or a number four.

[00:05:08] I think the catch for me is I personally don't see Harry Brooks as a great T20 batsman.

[00:05:14] And they also picked up another guy who was captain of the RCB, which was FAF at base price.

[00:05:20] So, if you ask my honest opinion, just to round out the batting, I think I would be like Jake, FAF, Porel, Rahul, Stubbs, Akshar.

[00:05:31] Okay, that's how.

[00:05:31] Now, maybe the order can go up and down because I feel Akshar should not be so low.

[00:05:35] They also picked up this guy called Ashutosh Sharma.

[00:05:37] So, for our listeners.

[00:05:38] Punjab from last year, man.

[00:05:40] Yeah.

[00:05:40] What a sick man.

[00:05:40] For, you know, overshadowed a little bit by Shashank Singh.

[00:05:43] Yeah.

[00:05:43] But Ashutosh Sharma is, I think, a good buy, right?

[00:05:48] Because you, as Delhi has missed that guy who can bat below Akshar and go for only, you know, bat for only two.

[00:05:55] So, that's what it is.

[00:05:57] Let me quickly run through the bowling just to finish this off.

[00:06:00] I see Mitchell Stark was a buy.

[00:06:03] Mixed feelings, but he's a great playoff player.

[00:06:05] The problem is Delhi doesn't reach the playoffs.

[00:06:07] But in the corporate world, I think he was 20-something crore last year and he's 11.75.

[00:06:12] So, although 11th Roads is a lot of money, he's had like a 40% decline year on year.

[00:06:17] Yeah.

[00:06:17] That's not good.

[00:06:17] That's not good numbers at all.

[00:06:19] But I'm sure they can normalize it over time.

[00:06:22] I'm sure.

[00:06:23] I'm sure.

[00:06:25] This is terrible corporate jokes.

[00:06:26] I know.

[00:06:27] I hope nobody gets it and nobody wants to continue these jokes.

[00:06:29] Yeah.

[00:06:30] What we did is, having the spinners, we invested very heavily in the Pacers.

[00:06:35] And again, I don't think it's a bad strategy.

[00:06:36] So, we picked up Mitchell Stark, T. Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar and Mohit Sharma.

[00:06:42] And I think we somewhere spent on an average of like 10 crores per player for the fast bowlers.

[00:06:47] Yeah.

[00:06:48] So, there's something in...

[00:06:49] Actually, Mukesh's retention was at 8.

[00:06:52] Yeah.

[00:06:52] But Mohit's going to make...

[00:06:53] Oh, sorry.

[00:06:54] No.

[00:06:54] Mohit's going to make 2.2.

[00:06:56] Natarajan's being 10.75.

[00:06:57] Stark's being 11.75.

[00:06:59] So, it's a weird sensation for the retained guy to make a bit less.

[00:07:02] But anyway.

[00:07:03] Yeah.

[00:07:03] So, I think bowling overall is stronger.

[00:07:05] I think I see Mohit as probably the impact player.

[00:07:08] Yeah.

[00:07:09] I think you've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 bowlers with the impact player who are proper four over each kind of bowlers.

[00:07:17] Yeah.

[00:07:17] And then Ashutosh Sharma becomes the batting impact player if we bowl first.

[00:07:22] So, that's it.

[00:07:23] I would say not great.

[00:07:25] I think decent chance of playoffs.

[00:07:27] But again, knowing Delhi, we'll probably be having a very different conversation four months from now.

[00:07:32] Yeah.

[00:07:33] Very interesting.

[00:07:33] I would actually say the only thing that I think is a little potentially different, in my opinion, is Harry Brook.

[00:07:39] A bit of an awkward IPL season.

[00:07:41] I guess 24 was his first year.

[00:07:42] A bit of an awkward start to his IPL career.

[00:07:45] But a huge potential.

[00:07:46] So, I think everything you said, maybe instead of faff, Harry Brook gets a look.

[00:07:49] And now you've got this younger, more kind of go-getter type side.

[00:07:53] But not a bad team on paper, which is confusing.

[00:07:57] We're going to try to rush to get through five teams.

[00:07:59] I wanted to ask you about their auction strategy.

[00:08:01] And the guy at the auction table who's always the center.

[00:08:05] I mean, he has this look on his face.

[00:08:07] Always the smirk, man.

[00:08:09] I think he did drive up the price for the other teams a little bit.

[00:08:12] So, give him credit where it's due.

[00:08:14] But I think he thinks he should deserve more credit than he's getting, which I don't think is right.

[00:08:20] Yeah, totally fair.

[00:08:21] Now, let's talk the opposite side of that.

[00:08:23] So, KL Rahul comes in.

[00:08:24] I think it's interesting whether faff maybe gets a look as a captain or Rahul just gets shooted as the captain for the new Delhi team.

[00:08:30] On the flip side.

[00:08:31] Yeah, sorry.

[00:08:31] Do you want to answer that?

[00:08:32] No, no, no.

[00:08:33] That's fine.

[00:08:33] Okay.

[00:08:34] On the flip side, the Lucknow Super Giants picked up Delhi's longstanding captain or longstanding player, recent captain, Rishabh Bant.

[00:08:45] 27 crores, Varun.

[00:08:46] An all-time record.

[00:08:48] The most expensive buy ever.

[00:08:50] Lucknow just knew they wanted to go for him.

[00:08:52] And they said, we'll spend whatever.

[00:08:53] And they said, we know that getting somebody like Rishabh both for the batting, the captaincy, the wicket-keeping, and the brand value he adds is worth it, right?

[00:09:01] It was just they knew what they wanted.

[00:09:03] Yeah.

[00:09:03] I mean, I think, again, a keeper, captain, middle-order batsman who is probably going to deliver a very hard ROI on the brand, like you said, is worth it.

[00:09:15] They knew they wanted him.

[00:09:18] I think they were very clear.

[00:09:21] And I think when the right-to-match option came, Lucknow had to kind of put up a number.

[00:09:25] They said 27.

[00:09:26] Yeah.

[00:09:26] And everyone just walked away.

[00:09:27] So they got who they wanted.

[00:09:30] Now, they got Rishabh Pant.

[00:09:33] Now, they retained, I think, four or five players, right?

[00:09:35] Now, Nicholas Puran, who also, I think, is a great retention, but at 21 crores.

[00:09:41] So now think about it.

[00:09:41] They've got two keepers at close to 50.

[00:09:44] And that showed.

[00:09:46] For me, as you go through the rest of their side, that really showed.

[00:09:49] I don't think they had a great auction.

[00:09:51] As much as I love Rishabh Pant, and I think he's a fantastic buy.

[00:09:54] To your point, 21 for Puran, 27 for Pant.

[00:09:58] Bishnoi was retained at 11.

[00:09:59] Mayank Yadav retained at 11.

[00:10:01] And then Mohsen Khan and Ayush Badoni at four each.

[00:10:04] I do not think the Lucknow side ended up looking good.

[00:10:07] As you start to look at the other acquisitions they made, who's going to play at the top?

[00:10:10] They bought Aidan Markram.

[00:10:11] Not a very good T20 player or not a very decorated T20 player, let's say.

[00:10:18] Mitchell March, decent, but blows hot and cold.

[00:10:20] Man, we've seen that firsthand from Delhi as Delhi fans.

[00:10:23] Avesh Khan, 9.75.

[00:10:25] Definitely potential.

[00:10:26] But is he really going to be...

[00:10:28] Is your quick lineup going to be Avesh Khan and Mayank Yadav?

[00:10:31] They're both awesome.

[00:10:32] But you could see four overs not for 55 from both guys.

[00:10:37] Yeah.

[00:10:38] And I was going to say Mohsen and Akash Deep as well.

[00:10:41] So they've kind of, in my opinion, missed a trick on the opening and the fast bowling.

[00:10:48] Now, I think if you've got a solid, like a bolt or somebody with these three names,

[00:10:54] I think it's solid.

[00:10:54] But just these four and so on.

[00:10:56] So I think the opening and the fast bowling was a little bit of a challenge for me.

[00:11:01] Yeah.

[00:11:01] And then I think, I actually think, and again, I may be being a little bit harsh.

[00:11:05] Because to your point, they have a very, very, very strong middle order, if you will.

[00:11:09] Very, very packed middle order, if you will.

[00:11:11] So opening, I agree.

[00:11:12] And then we look at Bish Noi, who's one of the world's best T20 spinners.

[00:11:17] But then you look and say, who's going to bowl with him?

[00:11:20] Like when you go to Chepok, you have Shabazz Ahmed.

[00:11:22] Maybe you're like, there's nobody else.

[00:11:26] There's no other spin.

[00:11:28] Yeah.

[00:11:28] And that is a glaring gap.

[00:11:30] I mean, as good as...

[00:11:31] Shabazz Ahmed, but yeah.

[00:11:32] Yeah.

[00:11:33] As good as Ravi Bish Noi is.

[00:11:36] I mean, Abdul Samad can bowl as a batter who can bowl a little.

[00:11:40] Arkham can roll his arm over.

[00:11:41] But when you start digging that deep to find options, you know that there's something missing.

[00:11:46] So yeah, overall, kind of marks out a 10.

[00:11:49] Or how did you feel about the Lucknow?

[00:11:50] How do you feel about the Lucknow team going into 25?

[00:11:53] I think, if I can be honest, I think it's weaker than the previous team.

[00:11:57] Yeah.

[00:11:58] And Lucknow has done a decent job getting into the top four or top five even, let's say.

[00:12:03] Now, is that our bias that we've lost, that Delhi has lost Risham, so we're now upset at Lucknow for it?

[00:12:09] I genuinely think, taking the bias aside, it's not a strong-looking team.

[00:12:13] But that's crazy to say.

[00:12:15] And now, obviously, given our predictions, Lucknow is going to be top of the table.

[00:12:19] Yeah.

[00:12:19] That's just how it goes.

[00:12:21] All right.

[00:12:21] Two teams down.

[00:12:22] Let's do one more before we take a quick break.

[00:12:24] So we've hit our first seven teams.

[00:12:26] Part one of this show, we hit five.

[00:12:29] We've just covered Delhi and Lucknow.

[00:12:31] We're going to go to the team that finished number eight last year, and that is the Gujarat Titans.

[00:12:36] Very, very interesting.

[00:12:37] Obviously, lots to unpack.

[00:12:41] Last year was when all the drama happened with Hardik Pandya and all of the things that have happened from these guys as a franchise.

[00:12:50] Five retentions.

[00:12:51] No questions whatsoever about Rashid Khan.

[00:12:54] Shubman Gill.

[00:12:54] That's official that Shubman will captain again, right?

[00:12:56] Like, there's no...

[00:12:58] Okay.

[00:12:58] Rashid Shubman.

[00:12:59] Sai Sudarshan, an absolute blistering talent.

[00:13:02] Big fan of Sai.

[00:13:03] Rahul Tevatiya, which you could argue merits of his attention.

[00:13:07] And Shah Rukh Khan.

[00:13:07] So five retentions for them.

[00:13:09] Varun, their biggest ticket purchases.

[00:13:11] You talked when we talked about Rajasthan in the previous episode about the loss of Joss Butler.

[00:13:16] 15.75 crore.

[00:13:18] Is he going to be the key?

[00:13:19] I mean, can you imagine Gill and Butler opening together for Gujarat?

[00:13:23] It's fantastic compared to Gill and Saha.

[00:13:26] And Saha's done his job well, but his time is done.

[00:13:29] And I think the only catch here is his Butler's time running out.

[00:13:34] He's not the same player that he was five years ago.

[00:13:36] But man, oh man, Butler has got me the most fantasy points out of any player.

[00:13:43] Repeatedly.

[00:13:43] I have a huge bias towards Butler.

[00:13:46] I think it's a great buy.

[00:13:49] I think, you know, I just think it's fantastic that they got Butler.

[00:13:53] It's going to boost their team so much.

[00:13:57] Yeah.

[00:13:57] So I think if you look at that for me, for Gujarat's side, right?

[00:14:00] Some of the other acquisitions.

[00:14:01] Muhammad Siraj, Kagi Saurabada, Prasidd Krishna.

[00:14:04] Similar to what you said.

[00:14:05] Three big, big ticket purchases on quick bowling.

[00:14:08] And the three of them may not actually play together in all that many matches, depending on the surface.

[00:14:14] So you look at the top with Gill and Siraj.

[00:14:16] And then you look at the bottom with Rabada.

[00:14:18] Excuse me.

[00:14:19] Gill and Butler.

[00:14:20] Bottom, Rabada, Siraj, Prasidd.

[00:14:25] And Shami.

[00:14:26] No, sorry, sorry, sorry.

[00:14:27] Not Shami.

[00:14:28] No, Shami was a Gujarat.

[00:14:29] Yeah.

[00:14:31] So Rabada, Siraj, Prasidd, and of course, Rashid Khan.

[00:14:35] And you've got a really solid top and bottom.

[00:14:37] But then it starts to dry up a little bit for me.

[00:14:39] Sai Sudarshan, of course, at three.

[00:14:41] Big fan.

[00:14:42] Shah Rukh Khan, Rahul Tevatiya, Mahipal Omroor, Glenn Phillips, maybe Washington Sundar, maybe.

[00:14:48] You have a couple of options in there.

[00:14:50] But Shafin Rutherford could slot in.

[00:14:52] To me, that's a little bit of the gap.

[00:14:55] Is that middle order?

[00:14:56] And honestly, Glenn Phillips is not bad.

[00:14:58] But they just don't have that big, marquee Indian player, if you will, between three and seven.

[00:15:04] And that potentially could be their gap, right?

[00:15:06] I 100% agree.

[00:15:07] I mean, your Shah Rukh Khan and Tevatiya, the problem is you're probably looking at them to take it on from over 16 onwards, right?

[00:15:13] But if you lose three early wickets, which happens, I don't think they've got the batting lineup to play 10 plus overs after the top three.

[00:15:24] So that, to me, is a risk.

[00:15:25] Now, what that also means is the way the team plays changes, right?

[00:15:29] Because suddenly you will now say Gil is going to play the anchor role.

[00:15:31] He's going to make sure he bats till 10 or 12.

[00:15:34] Everything changes.

[00:15:35] The dynamics of this team composition is so phenomenal that everything changes, you know, based on this.

[00:15:41] So I think you've identified it perfectly.

[00:15:43] I think they're not a bad team.

[00:15:45] But again, I don't see them like outperforming this time.

[00:15:49] Yeah, it's going to be interesting.

[00:15:50] I think top order and bowling will have to carry them.

[00:15:54] And we've seen teams with that kind of setup before.

[00:15:57] And it has been tough sledding for them.

[00:15:59] So, all right.

[00:16:00] We're on three teams down.

[00:16:01] We're going to take a very, very quick break.

[00:16:03] We'll come back and cover our last two teams, Punjab Kings.

[00:16:05] I still want to call them Kings 11 Punjab, but I'll call them Punjab Kings and the Mumbai Indians.

[00:16:09] Don't go anywhere.

[00:16:10] We will be right back.

[00:16:20] Welcome back to the Edges and Sledges Cricket Podcast.

[00:16:24] Last two teams to go.

[00:16:25] We are previewing each one of the 10 teams from the IPL 2025 auction, how they did.

[00:16:31] By the way, if you're on YouTube, hit the like button.

[00:16:34] Hit that subscribe button.

[00:16:35] And if you're on any other platform listening to us as a podcast, we are on every social media platform at OneTipOneHand.

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[00:16:45] We'd love to hear from you.

[00:16:47] Right.

[00:16:48] Varun, let's get to the Punjab Kings.

[00:16:51] You joked about this a little bit last time, but they went into the auction with a massive purse.

[00:16:57] They were ready to rebuild.

[00:16:57] Like over 100 crores or something.

[00:16:59] Ready to rebuild.

[00:17:01] It feels like every year has been a rebuilding year for Punjab.

[00:17:05] So kind of walk me through this.

[00:17:06] Two retentions.

[00:17:07] You said Ashutosh was a key part of their strategy last year.

[00:17:11] Didn't get the retention card.

[00:17:13] Shashank Singh, Prabhzimran Singh were the only two retentions.

[00:17:16] Again, arguably, in terms of international chops and stuff, even less decorated players to get retentions.

[00:17:22] But basically, fair game.

[00:17:24] Let's go rebuild a squad.

[00:17:26] I don't know.

[00:17:26] I kind of feel like it doesn't look bad.

[00:17:28] But I'm curious what your take is on Punjab's results.

[00:17:32] I think given the purse size they had, I think they've just done well.

[00:17:39] Like I wouldn't say, oh my God.

[00:17:41] Like if you had 111 crores or whatever that number was, I would say they've done a good job.

[00:17:48] Now, what is interesting to me about the auction is the first player up in the auction is Ashdeep.

[00:17:54] And right from the get-go, you're thinking, why did they let him go?

[00:17:59] Because, you know, Ashdeep is a decorated player.

[00:18:02] I think you could play him a 15 crores type of salary, right?

[00:18:06] As a premier fastball.

[00:18:07] Absolutely.

[00:18:07] So that was the first auction pick.

[00:18:09] And they didn't use right to match.

[00:18:11] They continued a bidding war.

[00:18:12] And they actually got him at 18 crores.

[00:18:15] Yeah.

[00:18:16] Right?

[00:18:16] So they outbid people despite having right to match cards.

[00:18:20] And I think that to me was a funny strategy.

[00:18:24] Yeah.

[00:18:24] Because I'm just quickly looking through this.

[00:18:25] I don't think they actually used an RTA.

[00:18:27] I don't think they used any.

[00:18:28] Yeah.

[00:18:30] So I think that happened.

[00:18:31] Then second, they needed a captain.

[00:18:34] And this was always going to be Pant or Ayer, right?

[00:18:36] I think Ayer's name came up first.

[00:18:38] They said, let's secure our captain before we go down a path where, you know, we lose both Pant and Ayer.

[00:18:44] And so again, secured the captain 26.75.

[00:18:48] When we talked about Pant at 27, this guy's like, I mean, very close.

[00:18:51] Yeah.

[00:18:52] Basically.

[00:18:53] And this makes sense why Sharesa didn't want to go or stay at KKR.

[00:18:58] Because if he had got 10 or 12 or 15, I mean, he's just, again, making 75 crores in this three-year cycle.

[00:19:04] And man, on paper, he's the IPL holding captain right now.

[00:19:10] He has the trophy as captain right now.

[00:19:12] I mean, it goes to the team.

[00:19:13] But yeah, he should get big bucks.

[00:19:16] Exactly.

[00:19:17] So, and then from there, I think started this whole kind of chain of Ricky Ponting and his Aussie mates.

[00:19:24] Yeah.

[00:19:25] Which he's acknowledged to say, listen, I understand there's a lot of Aussies, but they're great players at the team dynamics.

[00:19:30] But yeah, they got Marcus Stoinis.

[00:19:33] Then they got Glenn Maxx.

[00:19:35] Two, I would say, big names almost guaranteed to play even with only four overseas slot in any team.

[00:19:44] And so, Punjab has picked up both of them.

[00:19:47] What's going to be interesting for me is where they bat, right?

[00:19:50] Because you may not want both of them to be in the middle order.

[00:19:53] So, I think that is...

[00:19:54] I think you probably open with Stoinis, actually, at this point.

[00:19:56] Yeah, I agree.

[00:19:56] He's done it before.

[00:19:57] You open with Stoinis and Prob Simran.

[00:19:59] And then Maxwell plays a little bit down the order, floater or whatever he wants.

[00:20:03] Of course, he also picked up Josh Inglis.

[00:20:06] I almost called him Josh Inglis.

[00:20:07] Josh Inglis.

[00:20:09] It's Josh Inglis and Josh Butler.

[00:20:12] Right.

[00:20:13] Anyway, they like to make our lives hard.

[00:20:14] Yeah.

[00:20:15] But so, he's going to be the keeper, right?

[00:20:16] Yeah.

[00:20:18] Again, interesting.

[00:20:19] I don't know enough about this guy.

[00:20:20] I probably should.

[00:20:21] But...

[00:20:21] Yeah.

[00:20:22] Yeah.

[00:20:23] If he's your keeper, then you've got three slots done.

[00:20:25] Like...

[00:20:26] And again, it comes down to now you've got three out of four slots done.

[00:20:30] Now, what does the bowling look like, right?

[00:20:32] Yeah.

[00:20:33] Very, very interesting, right?

[00:20:34] As you start to get to...

[00:20:35] They picked Ashdeep for big money.

[00:20:37] The big money pick they picked, which I actually think is smart, is Chahel.

[00:20:40] They went really big for Yuzi.

[00:20:41] And so, if you're saying, okay, I got Shreyas, Stoinis, Maxwell near the top, and I got Yuzi

[00:20:47] and Ashdeep near the bottom.

[00:20:49] Okay, where else can I go and start to round it off?

[00:20:51] And this is where I felt like they lacked just a tiny bit, right?

[00:20:56] Their second Indian quick option, essentially, or their second is Vijaykumar Vaishak.

[00:21:01] And they have Harpreet Brar as a spinning option.

[00:21:04] And they have Marco Janssen, who's awesome, but he takes an overseas spot as a quick bowler,

[00:21:09] which, again, you want to have options to do without.

[00:21:13] Lockie Ferguson is the other overseas quick option.

[00:21:15] And then the other big scalp they got, which I was very surprised that they were able to get,

[00:21:19] was Nehal Vadera, which, again, doesn't play internationally,

[00:21:22] so may not be on everybody's radar.

[00:21:24] But if you've watched IPL, you've seen how solid this guy is and how solid he was for Mumbai.

[00:21:30] I mean, Mumbai would be upset to have lost him, I think.

[00:21:32] So it's not a bad team on paper.

[00:21:34] I think, arguably, they had a good auction for the results they've had,

[00:21:40] for the kind of profile of team they've had for the last 10 years.

[00:21:43] They had a medium auction, to your point, for having had over 100 crores.

[00:21:47] But it's not a bad-looking 11.

[00:21:49] I think they just seem to have that little bit of middle-order depth gap, potentially.

[00:21:55] But hey, if Maxwell has a good season, anything is possible for Punjab, right?

[00:21:58] All right, let's wrap it up with getting to our final team.

[00:22:01] And I'm talking about the, again, weird to say, finished bottom of the table last year,

[00:22:08] but the Mumbai Indians.

[00:22:09] Varun, you want to run us through the retentions really quick?

[00:22:12] Because no major surprises, but huge, huge names for a team that finished 10th.

[00:22:16] Yeah, and look, they went through a lot last year, right?

[00:22:21] Rohit seemed upset.

[00:22:22] Bumrah seemed upset.

[00:22:23] Sky seemed upset.

[00:22:24] Hardik Pandya comes back as captain, gets booed.

[00:22:27] And it was almost embarrassing to watch after a point.

[00:22:31] And we discussed that a lot last year.

[00:22:33] And then, like, 30 days later, we go and win the World Cup.

[00:22:37] And Rohit Sharma is kissing Hardik Pandya.

[00:22:39] And has announced his retirement.

[00:22:42] And Sky has become the new captain.

[00:22:43] So the dynamics are just crazy.

[00:22:46] Like, it just shows you you can't plan for this stuff, right?

[00:22:48] Like, so now you've got a situation where Rohit is playing under Hardik, the captain.

[00:22:53] Now Sky will be playing under Hardik for Mumbai.

[00:22:55] Hardik will be playing under Sky for India.

[00:22:57] It's a bit weird.

[00:22:59] But having said all that, these are the Mumbai Indians.

[00:23:02] These are the Ambani's.

[00:23:03] They have the ability to make it work.

[00:23:05] They sat everyone down.

[00:23:06] I think they basically did a very smart thing.

[00:23:09] They've put Bumrah on top as the highest paid attention, which to me was great.

[00:23:14] He deserves that.

[00:23:15] And then they put Sky and Hardik on equal, right?

[00:23:19] One is captain of Mumbai Indians.

[00:23:20] One is captain of the Indians.

[00:23:22] So put them on par.

[00:23:25] I think smart move.

[00:23:26] Rohit just slightly below.

[00:23:29] Like, and Rohit came out and even made a comment to say, I have retired from the game.

[00:23:35] So you know what I mean?

[00:23:36] Like, it's all just banded out beautifully.

[00:23:38] Like, what if Rohit had not retired from the game?

[00:23:40] 16.35 and 16.3 is just unbelievable.

[00:23:44] Yeah.

[00:23:45] And so just think about how they did this, right?

[00:23:47] Yeah.

[00:23:47] They had to have had conversations with everyone.

[00:23:49] And then Tilak.

[00:23:50] So they've done the retention.

[00:23:52] The core, Indian core is the strongest.

[00:23:55] And we've said that for a long time.

[00:23:57] Yeah.

[00:23:58] Now, though, where do you go from here?

[00:24:00] Because so they picked up Trent Bolt, who's played for them before, obviously, 12.5 crores.

[00:24:04] And then you start looking through the rest of their acquisitions.

[00:24:07] And some interesting ones, right?

[00:24:08] Will Jacks, 5.5 crores.

[00:24:10] Deepak Chahir, 9 plus crores.

[00:24:12] Pretty good.

[00:24:12] Did you see the Will Jacks situation where Mumbai was bidding for him at 5.5?

[00:24:18] And then the stop looked at RCB.

[00:24:20] RCB said, we won't do a right to match.

[00:24:23] Honestly, 5.5 for Will Jacks, I think they should have.

[00:24:25] Yeah.

[00:24:25] And then Akash Amani just gets up, smiley, walks over, hugs the RCB CEO and then goes back.

[00:24:30] Because he didn't use RTS.

[00:24:32] Just the weirdest thing.

[00:24:34] Yeah.

[00:24:35] I mean, when you go through those guys and then the one that I don't know much about,

[00:24:38] but the mystery spinner from Afghanistan, that's Allah Ghazan Far, 4.8 crores.

[00:24:44] And Mitch Santner as well, right?

[00:24:46] So who is 2 crores?

[00:24:48] So it's interesting, man.

[00:24:49] It's like, yes, Rohit, Sky, Tilak, Hardik, and of course, Bumrah is the strongest Indian core.

[00:24:55] But what does the 11 look like?

[00:24:57] Who opens with Rohit?

[00:24:58] Is it Will Jacks?

[00:25:00] If it's Will Jacks who takes that overseas spot, then you're playing Trent Bort, Mitchell Santner maybe.

[00:25:07] Then you play this mystery spinner who you paid money for.

[00:25:10] It's just, it's weird because the core seems so good, but I still don't see it as a cohesive team.

[00:25:17] Yeah.

[00:25:18] Yeah.

[00:25:18] So my problem with this team was exactly what you said.

[00:25:21] The cohesive team around these five.

[00:25:23] Yeah.

[00:25:23] And secondly, the wicketkeeper.

[00:25:26] So they've just ignored the wicketkeeper.

[00:25:29] Maybe they're just going to put fine leg very fine and third man very fine and just be like, we'll stop the ball there.

[00:25:35] But it just doesn't make sense.

[00:25:37] So I don't know who's in the game.

[00:25:38] Yeah, no, they have to play one of Ryan Rickleton's.

[00:25:41] Robin Minns.

[00:25:43] Or Krishnan Shrijit.

[00:25:45] Yeah.

[00:25:45] Who I don't know anything about.

[00:25:47] What I'm saying is that's weird.

[00:25:49] Yeah, it's very strange for, and of course they spent 30 lakhs in one slot on their team on Arjunta Dulkar, which is a discussion maybe for a different day.

[00:25:58] And 50 lakhs for Karan Sharma because I think he's won the most IPA.

[00:26:02] Karan Sharma was just a superstition.

[00:26:04] I'm sure it was just the astrologer.

[00:26:06] It's just rotated teams that every year the team he goes to is the IPA.

[00:26:09] It's incredible.

[00:26:10] I mean, yeah, it is weird, man.

[00:26:12] This is what I'm saying.

[00:26:13] It's so strange.

[00:26:14] But to the point you said about spending 50 crores across Puran and Punt together, these guys have spent, after a quick math on the fly, it's like 70 crores on these five guys.

[00:26:27] Yeah.

[00:26:28] So you've chosen to go big on the five.

[00:26:30] And fine, no discredit to any of them.

[00:26:31] But it's just confusing.

[00:26:33] Maybe they're relying overly on that impact sub rule to say we'll get a keeper.

[00:26:38] But we know that keeper is not the best batter.

[00:26:40] It's a very interesting one.

[00:26:42] And there's just not enough depth.

[00:26:43] Like, what happens if Bumrah gets injured?

[00:26:45] What happens if a Rohit gets injured?

[00:26:46] You're just in trouble.

[00:26:47] So that's going to be really interesting.

[00:26:49] You're right.

[00:26:50] The depth is not there.

[00:26:51] They have the bowling with Deepak, Cheher, Bumrah, Bolt, Santner.

[00:26:57] I'm just flabbergasted by this keeper.

[00:26:59] And I just can't get over it as I was watching the auction.

[00:27:02] Now watch Robin Minns have the orange cap this year and us having to eat our words.

[00:27:08] So, right.

[00:27:09] Varun, 10 teams done?

[00:27:10] Done and dusted?

[00:27:11] I mean, it feels crazy because the IPL is still over three months away.

[00:27:14] But it's always fun that they do this auction kind of around this time of year.

[00:27:18] It gives us some excitement.

[00:27:19] It's been great to preview them.

[00:27:20] Again, first five teams are in the other part of this episode.

[00:27:23] This is part two.

[00:27:24] But at the time of recording this, we're in between the first and second test.

[00:27:27] By the time this comes out, the second test will be underway.

[00:27:29] Maybe nobody's even listening to IPL stuff anymore.

[00:27:31] Maybe you're listening to this when it's February and India has beaten Australia 4-0 or 5-0 and qualified for the World's Championship.

[00:27:39] Maybe right now, Varun, you and I are two hours from another 36 for 9 or...

[00:27:44] And then people will only want to be listening to this episode.

[00:27:48] So, come what may, it's been great.

[00:27:50] Always fun to relive it.

[00:27:51] Thank you for joining me to go through this auction.

[00:27:55] Thank you, everybody, for listening.

[00:27:56] We are at One Tip One Hand on all the socials.

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[00:28:08] Good luck to India for the second test match against Australia.

[00:28:11] And we will be back to talk about that after it ends.