After two days of intense bidding in Jeddah, here’s what each squad looks like – and where their strengths and weaknesses lie
George Binoy25-Nov-20241:48
Moody: Ghazanfar could be point of difference for Mumbai Indians
.Mumbai IndiansNo. of players 23/25 (8 overseas)
Hot take: While MI’s contingent of Indian players is strong, their overseas picks were rather unconventional. Apart from Trent Boult and Mitchell Santner, the other six are untested or haven’t been regular starters in the IPL. England allrounder Will Jacks and fast bowler Reece Topley, South African quick Lizaad Williams and Afghanistan spinner Allah Ghazanfar are pretty inexperienced in the league, while New Zealand’s Bevan-John Jacobs and South Africa’s Ryan Rickelton haven’t played in the IPL before.
Possible first 12 (including impact player): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Will Jacks, 6 Hardik Pandya (capt), 7 Naman Dhir/Robin Minz, 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Allah Ghazanfar/Mitchell Santner, 10 Karn Sharma, 11 Jasprit Bumrah, 12 Trent Boult
SQUAD
Batters: Suryakumar Yadav (retained), Rohit Sharma (retained), Tilak Varma (retained), Bevan-John Jacobs
Wicketkeepers: Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton, Krishnan Shrijith
Allrounders: Hardik Pandya (pace; retained), Naman Dhir (spin; RTM), Will Jacks (spin), Raj Angad Bawa (pace), Vignesh Puthur (spin)
Spinners: Allah Ghazanfar, Karn Sharma, Mitchell Santner
Fast bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah (retained), Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Ashwani Kumar, Reece Topley, Satyanarayana Raju, Arjun Tendulkar, Lizaad Williams
****
2:04
Moody: Curran poses a left-hand conundrum with bat for CSK
Chennai Super KingsNo. of players 25/25 (7 overseas)
Hot take: CSK bought back R Ashwin ten seasons after he last played for them in 2015, reuniting him with Ravindra Jadeja. They further strengthened their spin attack with the addition of Noor Ahmad, and otherwise stacked their squad with allrounders and fast bowlers.They’ve also bought a fair number of players whose IPL careers are in need of a revival: Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Deepak Hooda and Shreyas Gopal.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), 2 Devon Conway/Rachin Ravindra, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Shivam Dube, 5 Sam Curran, 6 Vijay Shankar, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 MS Dhoni (wk), 9 R Ashwin, 10 Noor Ahmad/Nathan Ellis, 11 Khaleel Ahmed/Gurjapneet Singh, 12 Matheesha PathiranaSQUAD
Batters: Ruturaj Gaikwad (retained), Rahul Tripathi, Shaik Rasheed, Deepak Hooda, Andre Siddarth
Wicketkeepers: Devon Conway, MS Dhoni (retained), Vansh Bedi
Allrounders: Ravindra Jadeja (spin; retained), Shivam Dube (pace; retained), R Ashwin (spin), Sam Curran (pace), Rachin Ravindra (spin; RTM), Vijay Shankar (pace), Anshul Kamboj (pace), Jamie Overton (pace), Ramakrishna Ghosh (pace)
Spinners: Noor Ahmad, Shreyas Gopal
Fast bowlers: Matheesha Pathirana (retained), Khaleel Ahmed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Mukesh Choudhary, Gurjapneet Singh, Nathan Ellis
****
5:02
Moody: ‘Bhuvneshwar would probably have mixed emotions’
Royal Challengers BengaluruNo. of players 22/25 (8 overseas)
Hot take: RCB bought the explosive Phil Salt to partner Virat Kohli at the top of the order, and also spent a lot of money to acquire two experienced quicks in Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to try and solve their long-standing bowling problem. They have batting reinforcements in the top and middle order and, for the first time in a long time, their line-up doesn’t seem reliant on a few star players.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Liam Livingstone, 4 Rajat Patidar, 5 Krunal Pandya, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk) 7 Tim David/Jacob Bethell, 8 Rasikh Salam, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Yash Dayal, 12 Suyash Sharma/Swapnil SinghSQUAD
Batters: Virat Kohli (retained), Rajat Patidar (retained), Tim David, Manoj Bhandage, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chikara
Wicketkeepers: Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma
Allrounders: Liam Livingstone (spin), Krunal Pandya (spin), Swapnil Singh (spin), Romario Shepherd (pace), Jacob Bethell (spin), Mohit Rathee (spin)
Spinners: Suyash Sharma, Abhinandan Singh
Fast bowlers: Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal (retained), Rasikh Salam, Nuwan Thushara, Lungi Ngidi
****
Sunrisers HyderabadNo. of players 20/25 (7 overseas)
Hot take: SRH have an explosive top five and a first-choice bowling attack with plenty of pedigree, but the link between those two parts of their line-up is likely to be a bit inexperienced. Also, their back-up overseas players – Kamindu Mendis, Brydon Carse and Eshan Malinga – have never played the IPL before.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Nitish Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Abhinav Manohar, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Rahul Chahar, 11 Mohammed Shami, 12 Adam ZampaSQUAD
Batters: Travis Head (retained), Abhinav Manohar, Aniket Verma, Sachin Baby
Wicketkeepers: Heinrich Klaasen (retained), Ishan Kishan, Atharva Taide
Allrounders: Abhishek Sharma (spin; retained), Nitish Kumar Reddy (pace; retained), Kamindu Mendis (spin)
Spinners: Adam Zampa, Rahul Chahar, Zeeshan Ansari
Fast bowlers: Mohammed Shami, Pat Cummins (retained), Harshal Patel, Simarjeet Singh, Jaydev Unadkat, Brydon Carse, Eshan Malinga
****
Kolkata Knight RidersNo. of players 21/25 (8 overseas)
Hot take: KKR retained six players from their title-winning squad in IPL 2024 and bought back six more. They tried to buy back several others as well but couldn’t, having splurged INR 23.75 for Venkatesh Iyer, who could be their new captain. They replaced Salt and Starc with Quinton de Kock and Anrich Nortje/Spencer Johnson, which may not seem like an upgrade.Their bids for Manish Pandey and Ajinkya Rahane were a bit of a surprise, with their batting styles at odds with KKR’s crash-bang-wallop methods last season.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Sunil Narine, 2 Quinton de Kock/Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Angkrish Raghuvanshi/Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Ramandeep Singh, 8 Harshit Rana, 9 Varun Chakravarthy, 10 Vaibhav Arora, 11 Anrich Nortje/Spencer Johnson, 12 Manish PandeySQUAD
Batters: Rinku Singh (retained), Rovman Powell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia, Ajinkya Rahane
Wicketkeepers: Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Allrounders: Venkatesh Iyer (pace), Andre Russell (pace; retained), Sunil Narine (spin; retained), Ramandeep Singh (pace; retained), Anukul Roy (spin), Moeen Ali (spin)
Spinners: Varun Chakravarthy (retained), Mayank Markande
Fast bowlers: Harshit Rana (retained), Vaibhav Arora, Anrich Nortje, Spencer Johnson, Umran Malik
****
3:24
Is Jansen a straight replacement for Curran at PBKS?
Punjab KingsNo. of players 25/25 (8 overseas)
Hot take: PBKS spent INR 26.75 crore to buy Shreyas Iyer, who is likely to be their new captain. The influence of their new coach Ricky Ponting was evident in five of their eight overseas players being Australian. Their starting XII will look dramatically different with only Prabhsimran Singh, Shashank Singh and Harpreet Brar likely to feature prominently from last season.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Josh Inglis (wk), 2 Prabhsimran Singh, 3 Marcus Stoinis, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Nehal Wadhera, 7 Shashank Singh, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Harpreet Brar, 10 Yash Thakur/Kuldeep Sen/Vijaykumar Vyshak, 11 Arshdeep Singh, 12 Yuzvendra ChahalSQUAD
Batters: Shreyas Iyer, Shashank Singh (retained), Nehal Wadhera, Harnoor Singh Pannu, Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash
Wicketkeepers: Josh Inglis, Vishnu Vinod, Prabhsimran Singh (retained)
Allrounders: Glenn Maxwell (spin), Marcus Stoinis (pace), Marco Jansen (pace), Harpreet Brar (spin), Azmatullah Omarzai (pace), Aaron Hardie (pace), Musheer Khan (spin), Suryansh Shedge (pace)
Spinners: Yuzvendra Chahal, Pravin Dubey
Fast bowlers: Arshdeep Singh (RTM), Lockie Ferguson, Yash Thakur, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Kuldeep Sen, Xavier Bartlett
****
Lucknow Super GiantsNo. of players 24/25 (6 overseas)
Hot take: LSG made history by making Rishabh Pant the most expensive player ever sold at an IPL auction (INR 27 crore) and will likely name him their captain. While they could boast an enviable top six (see below) they didn’t manage to pick up an established Indian opener. Their squad has a wealth of Indian bowling options – pace and spin – so expect them to load their batting line-up with overseas experience.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Mitchell Marsh, 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Ayush Badoni, 6 David Miller, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 Abdul Samad, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Mohsin Khan, 12 Mayank YadavSQUAD
Batters: Aiden Markram, David Miller, Ayush Badoni (retained), Himmat Singh, Matthew Breetzke
Wicketkeepers: Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran (retained), Aryan Juyal
Allrounders: Adbul Samad (spin), Mitchell Marsh (pace), Shahbaz Ahmed (spin), Yuvraj Chaudhary (spin), Rajvardhan Hangargekar (pace), Arshin Kulkarni (Pace)
Spinners: Ravi Bishnoi (retained), M Siddharth, Digvesh Singh
Fast bowlers: Mayank Yadav (retained), Mohsin Khan (retained), Akash Deep, Avesh Khan, Akash Singh, Shamar Joseph, Prince Yadav
****
Delhi CapitalsNo. of players 23/25 (7 overseas)
Hot take: Who will lead DC this season – Axar Patel, or their new signing KL Rahul? With Rahul likely to slot in at the top of the order, there are dashers around him and all the way down the DC line-up. Their fast bowling was a concern last season but it looks far more potent this year.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Abishek Porel (wk), 4 Harry Brook, 5 Tristan Stubbs, 6 Axar Patel, 7 Ashutosh Sharma, 8 Sameer Rizvi, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 T Natarajan, 12 Mukesh KumarSQUAD
Batters: Jake Fraser-McGurk (RTM), Harry Brook, Tristan Stubbs (retained), Faf du Plessis, Karun Nair
Wicketkeepers: KL Rahul, Abishek Porel (retained), Donovan Ferreria
Allrounders: Axar Patel (spin; retained), Ashutosh Sharma (spin), Sameer Rizvi (spin), Darshan Nalkande (pace), Vipraj Nigam (spin), Ajay Mandal (spin), Manvanth Kumar (pace), Tripurana Vijay (spin), Madhav Tiwari (pace)
Spinners: Kuldeep Yadav (retained)
Fast bowlers: Mitchell Starc, Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan, Mohit Sharma, Dushmantha Chameera
****
Rajasthan RoyalsNo. of players 20/25 (6 overseas)
Hot take: After retaining five batters and only one bowler, RR went shopping for many bowlers and picked up quality in Jofra Archer, Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana, though Archer and Hasaranga have been rather injury prone. Their two overseas back-up players are rather low key – Kwena Maphaka and Fazalhaq Farooqi – so IPL 2025 could prove to be a test of their Indian bench strength.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Sanju Samson (capt, wk), 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Riyan Parag, 5 Dhruv Jurel, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Shubham Dubey/Akash Madhwal, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Maheesh Theekshana, 11 Sandeep Sharma, 12 Tushar DeshpandeSQUAD
Batters: Yashasvi Jaiswal (retained), Shimron Hetmyer (retained), Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi
Wicketkeepers: Sanju Samson (retained), Dhruv Jurel (retained), Kunal Singh Rathore
Allrounders: Riyan Parag (spin; retained), Nitish Rana (spin), Yudhvir Singh (pace)
Spinners: Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Kumar Kartikeya
Fast bowlers: Jofra Archer, Sandeep Sharma (retained), Tushar Deshpande, Akash Madhwal, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kwena Maphaka, Ashok Sharma
****
Gujarat TitansNo. of players 25/25 (7 overseas)
Hot take: GT did well to pick up three out of 12 marquee players – Jos Buttler, Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada – and adding Prasidh Krishna to their attack was a coup as well. It’s crucial these players remain fit, though, because their Indian fast-bowling back-up is thin. Their middle order doesn’t have a star cast but GT will hope Washington Sundar will shrug off his indifferent IPL form and have an impactful season with bat and ball.Best 12 (including impact player): 1 Jos Buttler (wk), 2 Shubman Gill (capt), 3 Sai Sudharsan, 4 Washington Sundar, 5 Sherfane Rutherford/Glenn Phillips, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 M Shahrukh Khan, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Arshad Khan/Sai Kishore/Mahipal Lomror, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Mohammed Siraj, 12 Prasidh KrishnaSQUAD
Batters: Shubman Gill (retained), Sai Sudharsan (retained), Rahul Tewatia (retained), Sherfane Rutherford
Wicketkeepers: Jos Buttler, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat
Allrounders: Rashid Khan (spin; retained), Washington Sundar (spin), M Shahrukh Khan (spin; retained), Mahipal Lomror (spin), Nishant Sindhu (spin), Arshad Khan (pace), Jayant Yadav (spin), Glenn Phillips (spin), Karim Janat (pace)
Spinners: Manav Suthar, Sai Kishore
Fast bowlers: Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gerald Coetzee, Gurnoor Brar, Ishant Sharma, Kulwant Khejroliya