It wasn’t a mega affair, but the IPL 2021 auction was always going to be exciting, what with all the eight teams having a number of holes to plug. As it turned out, big money was splurged on some players – breaking payment records along the way – and this is what the teams looked like at the end of it.
Chennai Super Kings
Auction buys: K Gowtham (INR 9.25 crore), Moeen Ali (INR 7 crore), Cheteshwar Pujara (INR 50 lakh), K Bhagath Varma (INR 20 lakh), C Hari Nishaanth (INR 20 lakh), M Harisankar Reddy (INR 20 lakh)
Full squad: MS Dhoni (capt), Ambati Rayudu, C Hari Nishanth, Cheteshwar Pujara, Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Harisankar Reddy, Imran Tahir, Josh Hazlewood, K Bhagath Varma, K Gowtham, Karn Sharma, KM Asif, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Moeen Ali, Narayan Jagadeesan, R Sai Kishore, Ravindra Jadeja, Robin Uthappa, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, Suresh Raina
Gaps filled: Moeen Ali and K Gowtham could be the batting allrounders they needed. If IPL 2021 happens in India, Cheteshwar Pujara could come in handy on slow Chennai pitches.
Gaps left: They could have done with a back-up for Faf du Plessis.
Purse left: INR 2.55 crore
Delhi Capitals
Auction buys: Tom Curran (INR 5.25 crore), Steven Smith (INR 2.2 crore), Sam Billings (INR 2 crore), Umesh Yadav (INR 1 crore), Ripal Patel (INR 20 lakh), Vishnu Vinod (INR 20 lakh), Lukman Meriwala (INR 20 lakh), M Siddharth (INR 20 lakh)
Full squad: Shreyas Iyer (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Chris Woakes, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Lalit Yadav, Lukman Meriwala, Manimaran Siddharth, Marcus Stoinis, Praveen Dubey, Prithvi Shaw, R Ashwin, Ripal Patel, Rishabh Pant, Sam Billings, Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer, Steven Smith, Tom Curran, Umesh Yadav, Vishnu Vinod
Gaps filled: An Indian back-up wicketkeeper for Rishabh Pant in the form of Vishnu Vinod, plus Sam Billings as an overseas wicketkeeper-batsman.
Gaps left: An overseas batting-allrounder as back-up for Marcus Stoinis.
Purse left: INR 3.65 crore
Kolkata Knight Riders
Auction buys: Shakib Al Hasan (INR 3.2 crore), Harbhajan Singh (INR 2 crore), Ben Cutting (INR 75 lakh), Karun Nair (INR 50 lakh), Pawan Negi (INR 50 lakh), Sheldon Jackson (INR 20 lakh), Venkatesh Iyer (INR 20 lakh), Vaibhav Arora (INR 20 lakh)
Full squad: Eoin Morgan (capt), Andre Russell, Ben Cutting, Dinesh Karthik, Harbhajan Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Karun Nair, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Pat Cummins, Pawan Negi, Prasidh Krishna, Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Tim Seifert, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravathi, Venkatesh Iyer
Gaps filled: Ben Cutting, or even Shakib Al Hasan, as a back-up overseas allrounder for Andre Russell. Shakib and Harbhajan Singh can also be handy in case Sunil Narine needs to be subbed.
Gaps left: An experienced Indian seamer.
Purse left: INR 3.20 crore
Mumbai Indians
Auction buys: Nathan Coulter Nile (INR 5 crore), Adam Milne (INR 3.2 crore), Piyush Chawla (INR 2.4 crore), James Neesham (INR 50 lakh), Yudhvir Charak (INR 20 lakh), Marco Jansen (INR 20 lakh), Arjun Tendulkar (INR 20 lakh)
Full squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), Adam Milne, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, James Neesham, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Marco Jansen, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Quinton de Kock, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Yudhvir Singh Charak
Gaps filled: They needed a couple of overseas quicks, which they got in the form of Nathan Coulter-Nile and Adam Milne. Piyush Chawala strengthens the wristspin department.
Gaps left None, really.
Purse left: INR 3.65 crore
Punjab Kings
Auction buys: Jhye Richardson (INR 14 crore), Riley Meredith (INR 8 crore), Shahrukh Khan (INR 5.25 crore), Moises Henriques (INR 4.2 crore), Dawid Malan (INR 1.5 crore), Fabian Allen (INR 75 lakh), Jalaj Saxena (INR 30 lakh), Saurabh Kumar (INR 20 lakh), Utkarsh Singh (INR 20 lakh)
Full squad: KL Rahul (capt), Arshdeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Chris Jordan, Darshan Nalkande, Dawid Malan, Deepak Hooda, Fabian Allen, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel, Jalaj Saxena, Jhye Richardson, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami, Moises Henriques, Murugan Ashwin, Nicholas Pooran, Prabhsimran Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Riley Meredith, Sarfaraz Khan, Saurabh Kumar, Shahrukh Khan, Utkarsh Singh
Gaps filled: Moises Henriques, Jalaj Saxena and Fabian Allen are all in, giving them a bunch of allrounders to choose from.
Gaps left: An experienced Indian seamer as a back-up for Mohammed Shami.
Purse left INR 18.80 crore.
Rajasthan Royals
Auction buys: Chris Morris (INR 16.25 crore), Shivam Dube (INR 4.4 crore), Chetan Sakariya (INR 1.2 crore), Mustafizur Rahman (INR 1 crore), Liam Livingstone (INR 75 lakh), Akash Singh (INR 20 lakh), KC Cariappa (INR 20 lakh), Kuldip Yadav (INR 20 lakh)
Full squad: Sanju Samson (capt), Akash Singh, Andrew Tye, Anuj Rawat, Ben Stokes, Chetan Sakariya, Chris Morris, David Miller, Jaydev Unadkat, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Kartik Tyagi, KC Cariappa, Kuldip Yadav, Liam Livingstone, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Mayank Markande, Mustafizur Rahman, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Shreyas Gopal, Yashasvi Jaiswal
Gaps filled: With Jofra Archer being the No. 1 man with the new ball, the Royals needed someone to take care of the death bowling. Mustafizur Rahman and Chris Morris are perfect for that role.
Gaps left: None too major, but a big-name top-order batsman, someone like Alex Hales, to replace Steven Smith was an option.
Purse left: INR 13.65 crore
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Auction buys: Kyle Jamieson (INR 15 crore), Glenn Maxwell (INR 14.25 crore), Daniel Christian (INR 4.8 crore), Sachin Baby (INR 20 lakh), Rajat Patidar (INR 20 lakh), Mohammed Azharuddeen (INR 20 lakh), Suyash Prabhudesai (INR 20 lakh), KS Bharat (INR 20 lakh)
Full squad: Virat Kohli (capt), AB de Villiers, Adam Zampa, Daniel Christian, Daniel Sams, Devdutt Padikkal, Glenn Maxwell, Harshal Patel, Joshua Philippe, Kane Richardson, KS Bharat, Kyle Jamieson, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Pavan Deshpande, Rajat Patidar, Sachin Baby, Shahbaz Ahmed, Suyash Prabhudessai, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal
Gaps filled: Picking Glenn Maxwell means their middle order no longer depends only on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, while Kyle Jamieson plugs a big gap when it comes to a fast-bowling allrounder.
Gaps left An Indian middle-order batsman.
Purse left: INR 0.35 crore.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Auction buys: Kedar Jadhav (INR 2 crore), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (INR 1.5 crore), J Suchith (INR 30 lakh)
Full squad: David Warner (capt), Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jagadeesha Suchith, Jason Holder, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Kedar Jadhav, Khaleel Ahmed, Manish Pandey, Mitchell Marsh, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Priyam Garg, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar, Virat Singh, Wriddhiman Saha
Gaps filled: Kedar Jadhav can provide stability to the middle order. The prospect of Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan bowling together is a mouth-watering one.
Gaps left: An overseas fast bowler.
Purse left: INR 6.95 crore.