The much-awaited VIVO IPL 2018 auction took place at The Ritz – Carlton, Bangalore. The franchisees locked horns to choose the best players from all the categories (Batsmen, Bowlers, and Allrounders). Over 110 players went under the hammer, 78 were sold ( 49  Indians and 29 overseas)

Ben Stokes yet again remained as the top buy this year with Rajasthan Royals bagging him for 12.5 crores.  KL Rahul, Manish Pandey were bought for 11 crores by KXIP, SRH.

Notable players  Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Shikar Dhawan were retained by their franchise using RTM.

Let”s now look the squad composition of each franchise.

Kings XI Punjab                                             

The franchise looked enthusiastic in the auction and bought R Ashwin for 7.6 crore INR in the first round.  KL Rahul, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair and Mayank Agarwal are the Indian players who will feature in the Kxip squad. RTM was exercised on Miller and Stoinis.  It was a surprise that they hadn”t used it on Maxwell.  Aaron Finch who represented GL last year was also bought at 6.2 crores.

The batting department looks settled as of now with KL Rahul, Aaron Finch, and Yuvraj Singh.  However, they did not buy any overseas fast bowler and hopefully will try to get the best bowling line-up on day 2.

Squad: Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Aaron Finch, Karun Nair, David Miller, Yuvraj Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mayank Agarwal, Marcus Stoinis, Ankit Rajpoot

Chennai Super Kings

On their return to IPL after a couple of years, CSK “s effort to buy Ashwin failed miserably.  However, they found a replacement in the form of Harbhajan Singh.

Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo were retained using RTM for 1.6 and 6.4 crores respectively.

All-rounder Shane Watson (₹4 cr) will be representing CSK this year, his third franchise since the inception of IPL. Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Karn Sharma and Imran Tahoe were also brought in the afternoon session.

The franchise became silent participants post-lunch session and showed no interest in getting any uncapped players.

It is interesting to find that the team possesses a rich spin department but lack of pace is still a concern.

Squad: MS Dhoni, R Jadeja, Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Faf Du Plessis, Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, Imran Tahir

Kolkata Knight Riders

With Andre Russell and Sunil Narine already retained, KKR exercised RTM on spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla.  Robin Uthappa found himself lucky to be a part of the knights, thanks to the RTM.  Dinesh Karthik was also rooted in the squad at a price of 7.4cr

Australians Chris Lynn and Mitchell Starc were bought at 9.6 and 9.4 crores and this makes KKR a strong squad provided injuries doesn”t hurt them.

The franchise showed no interest in retaining Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan. U19 stars Shubman Gill, Kamlesh Nagarkoti also found themselves into the squad.

Nitish Rana, the find of IPL 2017, was bought after a competitive bidding with MI for 3.4 crores.

Squad: Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Dinesh Karthik, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Starc

Mumbai Indians

The defending champions had no buys other than retaining Kieron Pollard in the morning session.

Fast bowlers Mustafizur Rahman and Pat Cummins were bought at 2.2 cr and 5.4 cr.  With Bumrah leading the bowling department it will be interesting to see how threatening it will be for the opponents.

Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan were also bought past 3 crore barrier.

Later in the evening, Krunal Pandya was retained for a whopping 8.8 crore thus becoming the costliest uncapped player in the history of IPL

Squad: Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya, Mustafizur Rahman, Pat Cummins, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Suryakumar Yadav

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Brendon Mccullum, Moeen Ali, Quinton de Kock and Chris workers were bagged by RCB thus making them a batting rich department.  With Mccullum and Virat opening the innings and ABD at no:3, RCB should be able to get their hands on the cup for the first time.

The franchise exercised RTM on Yuzhvendra Chahal and bought Umesh Yadav for 4.2 cr.

However, no interest was shown in retaining Chris Gayle.  Collin de Grandhomme, Manan Vohra was also bought 2.2 and 1.1 crores.

Aniket Chaudhary returns to RCB for 30L but the core bowling department is yet to complete. They will be looking to fill the gaps by buying few fast bowlers on Sunday.

Squad: Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan, AB de Villiers, Brendon Mccullum, Quinton de Kock, Moeen Ali, Chris woakes, Colin de Grandhomme, Manan Vohra, Kulwant Khejroliya, Navdeep Saini, Yuzhvendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav

Delhi Daredevils

Probably the team with full of openers and hitters.  DD came out all guns blazing into the auction and impressed everyone with their buys.  Jason Roy, Maxwell, Munro, Prithvi Shaw were all bagged by DD.

Gautam Gambhir returns DD for a 2.8 crore and it will be a great moment for him to lead the squad at his home ground.

RTM was exercised on Mohammed Shami and Kagiso Rabada thus retaining the core of their bowling line-up.  Amit Mishra, Vijay Shankar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan will also represent DD this season.

The team will be in tatters to decide their opening combination this season

Squad: Rishabh Pant, Chris Morris, Shreyas Iyer, Gautam Gambhir, Glenn Maxwell, Jason Roy, Colin Munro, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Mohammed Shami, Prithvi Shaw, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Amit Mishra

Sunrisers Hyderabad

SRH retained Rashid Khan, Deepak Honda and Shikar Dhawan using RTM thus retaining their core team comprising Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Kane Williamson, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha, Carlos Braithwaite, Shakib Al Hasan were few of the notable buys from the franchise.

Manish Pandey was bought for an amount of 11 crores thus making there batting line-up a stable one.

Uncapped bowlers Basil thampi, T Natrajan was bought for 95L and 40L  providing a variety in their pace department.

Squad: David Warner, Manish Pandey, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan, W Saha, S Kaul, Deepak Honda, Kane Williamson, Syed Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, C Braithwaite, Yusuf Pathan, Basil thampi, T Natrajan, Ricky Bhui

Rajasthan Royals

Ben Stokes is set to feature in blue jersey this year being the highest paid player till now with 12.5 crores.  Retaining Rahane for an amount of 4 crores, RR looks quite dangerous with their picks today.

The squad also features  BBL stars Jofra archer and D”Arcy Short.

Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler was roped into the squad so it will be interesting to see who keeps the wickets.

Rahul Tripathi who came out in flying colors in IPL 2017 will be opening with Rahane and it is to be noticed that he was bought at 3.4 crores.

Stuart Binny also returns to the team where he started his IPL career

Squad: Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Steve Smith, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Rahane, D”Arcy short, Rahul Tripathi, Stuart Binny

 Unsold players:-

Hashim Amla, Murali Vijay, Joe root, Martin Guptill and Chris Gayle were few of the stars who weren”t able to make it into the squads. Other notable names include :

Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga, Johny Bairstow, Ishant Sharma, Sam Billings, Ish Sodhi, Josh Hazelwood, James Faulkner, Adam Zampa, Parthiv Patel, Naman Ojha, Tim Southee and Samuel Badree

These players will feature in the auction tomorrow once again providing an opportunity to the teams to fill their gaps.