The Weekly Focus Edition 70- The IPL Edition

The group stage of the IPL concluded yesterday, and after 56 matches and a tough playoff race, DC, CSK, RCB and KKR were the ones to qualify. Next year, we will see another mega auction with the addition of 2 new teams, so all teams will be put in a dilemma. Some, more than others. 4 seasons ago, all teams saw a change as younger faces took over from the older players, and one team that certainly benefitted from that were the Mumbai Indians. Suryakumar Yadav has scored over 1500 runs for MI over these 4 seasons, and Trent Boult has taken nearly 40 wickets in the 2 seasons he has been in Mumbai. Ishan Kishan was a huge find for MI, leading the run scoring lists last season. MI's had a perfect balance, but now that teams will have to retain only a few players. Other teams will be licking their lips trying to grab these players. CSK, a team which has also met with success will have their own problems retaining players. A majority of their core players have only a couple of seasons left in them, such as MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, DJ Bravo and Faf Du Plessis. They have fascinating youngsters in the squad, but it will be interesting to see if they retain their older players or create a new team. After the last auction, Delhi Capitals, a team which hadn't met with success earlier in the IPL have largely improved, RCB didn't have a good start but have picked up their shoes in the last 2 seasons. SRH, a team which qualified for the playoffs regularly will look to start from scratch after a forgettable 2021 campaign. Some players that will probably not be retained but will certainly be targeted in the auction from each team are:

Mumbai Indians

Suryakumar Yadav

Trent Boult

Hardik Pandya

Ishan Kishan

Chennai Super Kings

MS Dhoni

Suresh Raina

Ambati Rayudu

Dwayne Bravo

Royal Challengers Bangalore

AB De Villiers

Devdutt Padikkal

KS Bharat

Mohammed Siraj

Punjab Kings

Chris Gayle

Nicholas Pooran

Shahrukh Khan

Rajasthan Royals

Jos Buttler

Ben Stokes

Chetan Sakariya

Sun-Risers Hyderabad

David Warner

Jonny Bairstow

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Delhi Capitals

Anrich Nortje

Avesh Khan

Marcus Stoinis

Kolkata Knight Riders

Eoin Morgan

Venkatesh Iyer

Rahul Tripathi

The 2 new teams will be franchises mostly based in Lucknow and Ahmedabad. The auction for the franchises will take place later this year, and although the rules of the mega auction in terms of foreign players retention, and how many players that will be available for retention haven't been announced, we can expect only a few players to be retained. In conclusion, this mega auction could be a life saver for teams such as Rajasthan Royals and Sun risers Hyderabad, but could mean the end of an era for teams such as Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.

Written by Vivaan Dharamshi