IPL 2021: Comparing the Pre-Auction Squad Rating of all Teams

Chennai Super Kings, the most complete team at the moment as we look the pre-auction squad rating of all teams ahead of IPL 2021 Auction. 

The 14th edition of the hottest T20 Tournament in the world, the IPL 2021 is currently in the pre-production stage. All teams have released their list of retained and released players ahead of the IPL 2021 Auction. The teams now are gearing up for the mini-Auction where the teams would be filling up their gaps using their purse amount. 

The fact that all teams have a good number of spots to fill and they have sufficient amount with them means no Team is perfect from all angles. Even SRH, who have retained a total of 22 players have one overseas spot to fill, and a few more spots to make a Well-balanced squad.

So, in this article, we analyse the squads of all teams, and rate them across 5 major categories, viz. Openers, Middle-order, All-rounders, Spinners, and Pacers. Players are relatively rated across these categories basis the benchmark players. Finally, an aggregate rating is taken across 5 categories to calculate the overall squad rating. 

Please note: The rating for all the players is derived basis their last two year’s IPL performance, and their current International and Domestic form. 

Benchmark Players:

• Opener: KL Rahul
• Middle-order: AB de Villiers
• All-rounder: Hardik Pandya
• Spinner: Rashid Khan
• Pacer: Jasprit Bumrah

Alright then, let’s do a pre-auction squad rating comparison of all the teams ahead of IPL 2021 Auction. 

#8: Kings XI Punjab – 7.21

Kings XI Punjab were probably the smartest in terms of money management for the IPL 2021 Auction. Having retained 16 players, they released all their under-performing and under-utilized costly players making their purse healthy. They currently have around INR 53.2 crore ahead of Auction, which they can spend to purchase a maximum of  9 players including 5 overseas.

The team has a few really quality players like Mayank Agarwal and Chris Gayle, but their top 3 players are KL Rahul, Nicholas Pooran, and Mohammed Shami who have a rating of 10, 9.25, and 9 respectively. The team’s strength is their openers, which probably is the best among all the teams. However, in all the other areas, the team needs balance.

What KXIP are missing? 

Barring openers, KXIP need to invest in all areas, however, the two main categories where the team lacks experience are All-rounders and Pacers. The team doesn’t have even one solid all-rounder, and they need at least 3 of them. Similarly, while Shami heads the pace department, the lack of experience in this category can haunt the team if they don’t perform well. Hence, KXIP need a couple of good Pacers in the squad.

#7: Royal Challengers Bangalore – 7.31

Even after finishing in the top 4 in IPL 2020, Royal Challengers Bangalore continued their template of retaining few and releasing most of the players ahead of the subsequent Auction. The IPL 2021 Auction saw RCB retain only 12 players, and trade 2 of them to make it a squad of 14 members. The team currently has around INR 35.7 crore available, which they can spend to buy a maximum of 11 players including 3 overseas.

Talking about RCB’s current squad, their top 3 players are AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, and Yuzvendra Chahal, who have a rating of 10, 9.75, and 9.5 respectively. Barring these three, there are a few decent ones like Adam Zampa, Washington Sundar, and Kane Richardson, but the rest of the team lacks the firepower as compared to the competitors.

As always, RCB’s strength is their middle-order, which has the likes of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli, but such is the state of the team that their third-best middle-order batsman is Washington Sundar. The spin department is good too with the likes of Chahal, Zampa, and Sundar, but the team lacks backups to strengthen the squad.

What RCB are missing? 

RCB need to invest in all categories; especially Middle-order and openers. They have a couple of good players in all categories, but need more good ones along with the backups to make them a formidable squad. With more than 30 crores available in the Auction kitty, they can certainly make a strong squad for IPL 2021.

#6: Kolkata Knight Riders – 7.60

Kolkata Knight Riders retained a good chunk of players ahead of IPL 2021 Auction. They currently have 17 players available with them, and In terms of money, KKR have around INR 10.85 crores, which is quite less given the number of gaps they have. They can currently buy a maximum of 8 players including 2 overseas players.

KKR’s top 3 players are three overseas players in the form of Andre Russell, Eoin Morgan, and Pat Cummins, who have a rating of 9.25, 9, and 9 respectively. The team’s strength is their middle-order, which has the likes of Morgan, Karthik, Rana, and Russell. The pace contingent is full of potential, but lacks experience.

What KKR are missing? 

Talking about improvement areas, KKR need at least 2 all-rounders. They have only 2 all-rounders in the squad currently including the fading all-rounder Sunil Narine. They need to invest heavily in this area. Similarly, the squad lacks a solid attacking opener in case Rahul Tripathi doesn’t perform up to the expectations.

#5: Rajasthan Royals – 7.84

Rajasthan Royals offloaded a lot of superstars from their squad including their captain, Steve Smith ahead of IPL 2021 Auction. The team currently has 16 players and a total of INR 34.85 crore available with them to buy a maximum of 9 players including 3 overseas players. While overall squad has decent backups in all categories, most of their players have been average performers in the last few years. 

The top 3 players in RR squad current are Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, and Sanju Samson, who have a rating of 9.75, 9.25, and 8.75 respectively. RR don’t have a unique strength to showcase across different categories, and they are almost equal in all areas with average rating hovering around 8. Their current strength is their openers and middle-order which has the likes of Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, and David Miller.

What are RR missing? 

RR need to boost their Pace department and All-rounders. Apart from Jofra Archer in the pace department, the other names like Kartik Tyagi, Jaydev Unadkat, and Andrew Tye doesn’t inspire much confidence if we compare the competition. In All-rounders, they have only Ben Stokes and Rahul Tewatia. Hence, they need a couple of more good all-rounders to strengthen their team.

#4: Delhi Capitals – 8.21

The finalists of IPL 2020 have a well-balanced squad ahead of IPL 2021 Auction. They currently have a total of 17 players in their squad and around INR 12.8 crores in their kitty. While the amount is less if we look at the maximum possible squad of 25, they just need to spend this amount on 2-3 quality overseas players. 

Talking about Delhi Capitals’ current best players, the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Shikhar Dhawan, and Rishabh Pant takes the lead with a rating of 9.75, 9.5, and 9.25 respectively. The team also has a few good players too in the form of Marcus Stoinis, Shreyas Iyer, Anrich Nortje, and Axar Patel.  

What Delhi Capitals are missing? 

The Delhi Capitals squad seems well-balanced in all categories, but with the release of Sandeep Lamichhane, the team needs to invest in a quality overseas spinner. The team also needs a good all-rounder to complement Marcus Stoinis. Both of these places should strengthen the squad further. 

#3: Sunrisers Hyderabad – 8.35

At number 3, we have Sunrisers Hyderabad, who have retained 22 players; the most by any team. The team has a lot of inexperience in most of the categories, but even then SRH showed a lot of faith in the players to retain them ahead of the auction. With INR 10.75 crores in the kitty, SRH can buy a maximum of 3 players including an overseas player.

SRH’s top 3 players are Rashid Khan, David Warner, and Kane Williamson, who have a rating of 10, 9.75, and 9.25 respectively. The team looks well covered from all aspects with pacers and openers being their strength. The spin and all-rounder department doesn’t look bad either.  

What SRH are missing? 

While SRH are covered in all the categories, they would be hoping to boost their ower middle-order by buying 1-2 good players in this category. Their current options include Priyam Garg, Virat Singh, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, etc.- all of which are decent options to have.

#2: Mumbai Indians – 8.36

The champions of  IPL 2020 have the best playing 11 among all teams as seen in this article, IPL 2021: Rating the Pre-auction Strongest Playing 11 of each Team, but when it comes to overall squad rating, they are second, and the off-loading of 4 pacers and a few backups is the reason for that. The team currently has 18 players and around INR 15.3 crores in their kitty. The sad part, however, is that they have 4 overseas spots to fill still. 

Talking about the current squad, MI’s top 3 players are Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and Quinton de Kock, who have a rating of 10, 10, and 9.5 respectively. Following them is another bunch of quality players in the form of Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Suryakumar Yadav, and Trent Boult. The team’s strength is their ability to field the best-possible 11 among all the teams. 

What MI are missing? 

The off-loading of 4 foreign pacers means Mumbai Indians need to heavily invest in this category. The only issue is that they have only around INR 15.3 crores available with them, which is a small amount if they plan to purchase a quality pacer like Mitchell Starc. The team also needs a good quality spinner as Krunal Pandya isn’t a reliable spinner, and Rahul Chahar is still inexperienced.  

#1: Chennai Super Kings – 8.45

It may come as a surprise, but CSK actually have the most balanced squad ahead of the IPL 2021 Auction with a mix of the right players in right areas with good backups. They currently have 19 players in their roster and around INR 22.9 crore in their kitty. That’s a good amount to buy a maximum of 6 players and 1 overseas player. 

The team’s top 3 players are MS Dhoni (9), Faf du Plessis (9), and Imran Tahir (9.25), who was shockingly was under-utilised in 2020. The team also has a few good players in the form of Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, and Dwayne Bravo. While the team may not be the most perfect one in all the departments, they currently have the best squad among all the teams.

What CSK are missing?

The only area which CSK might look to focus in the Auction is buying a solid opener to complement Faf du Plessis. While the team does have an oldie Robin Uthappa and young Ruturaj Gaikwad to support Faf, an addition of a solid overseas opener will be a big boost for the team. 

So, that’s how the teams stand when it comes to their squad rating ahead of IPL 2021 Auction.

Thanks for reading! Looking at the squad rating of all the teams ahead of IPL 2021 Auction, which team looks the strongest? Please email your comments on business@cricalytics.com

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Adesh Kothari

Adesh Kothari is the founder of AK4Tsay1 Cricalytics with over 20 years of experience following Cricket.

Cricket to him is like what Football is to Lionel Messi, Singing is to Lata Mangeshkar, Dancing is to Michael Jackson, and Acting is to Clint Eastwood.

Besides his effervescent love for Cricket, Adesh is an MBA by qualification.