Sunrisers, KKR splash money, CSK make smart buys

Living up to their reputation as the smartest operators in IPL auctions, defending champions Chennai Super Kings came up with the best buys in Dubai on Tuesday to bolster their already strong line-up.

CSK had a good purse of ₹31.4 crore and they made the early moves to end up satisfied with their planning and execution. While Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad made the headlines, CSK made precise picks to get New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra as well as Shardul Thakur for less than ₹20 crore. And they were quite happy to add Bangladesh left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman at his base price of ₹2 crore during the accelerated bidding process at the end.

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SRH were also pro-active to snap up big names in Australia's skipper Pat Cummins and dashing opener Travis Head. For a limited budget of ₹17.75, Mumbai Indians did good work to build a lethal pace attack by getting South Africa's exciting young fast bowler Gerald Coetzee and Sri Lanka's impressive left-armer Dilshan Madushanka while KKR got their No.1 target Mitchell Starc.

CSK'S SMART PICKS

CSK's main aim was to find a replacement for Ambati Rayudu in the middle-order. That was achieved with the acquisition of Mitchell. A hardworking batter, he fits into the CSK mould. In the World Cup, he proved he has the game for subcontinent conditions with two hundreds against India.

CSK could have hardly believed their luck when they got Rachin for ₹1.80 crore. The all-rounder is a complete package at 24, one for the future. Settling down won't be a problem as they have a nice New Zealand combination going under coach Stephen Fleming with Devon Conway and Mitchell Santner there.

"Daryl is a different type of player (to Ben Stokes), but his performances over the last 18-24 months have warranted this type of a price. He is an unfashionable player, often goes under the radar. With his ability to play spin he is competitive and is also a handy bowler. In Chepauk, we can slide him into a role. Just like his performances, he fits in nicely and is a good buy for us," Fleming said.

Shardul, who was earlier with CSK, can bowl at the death and chance his arms coming in at No.8. MS Dhoni knows how to use him best. The five-time winners then spent the money on getting Uttar Pradesh's exciting young stroke-player Sameer Rizvi for ₹8.40 crore.

SRH GET THE LEADER

SRH's philosophy has been focussed on good leadership. Their most successful phase has been when captains David Warner and Kane Williamson were at their best. They went all out to have the best captaincy option in the highly successful Cummins.

They have also struggled for starts and Head, who hit a match-winning century in the World Cup final against India, is a great addition. They also got Sri Lanka spin-bowling all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga and Saurashtra's seasoned pacer Jaydev Unadkat. It provides a lot of options, although it leaves them with a problem of plenty in picking four overseas starters as they already have Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen and Glenn Phillips.

Coach Daniel Vettori said: “It is sort of tough to talk about what happened last season, but we were pretty adamant to get in left-handed batsmen. With Markram, Klaasen and Phillips in, and with Brook there in the middle, felt there was similarity between the four. So, we just wanted to get some options. Everyone knows how well he (Head) has been playing for an extended period of time. So, we are grateful to get him at that price. We expected him to go for more.”

MI BOLSTER PACE ATTACK

With a power-packed batting line-up, MI's focus was on building the pace attack after the plan with Jofra Archer didn't work. Skipper Hardik Pandya will be happy after young South African Gerald Coetzee and left-arm Dilshan Madhushanka were bought.

NO PANDYA REPLACEMENT

Gujarat Titans had the biggest purse but they were unlikely to find a like-for-like replacement for Pandya. The idea will be to make up for his all-round ability with the use of Impact Player rule. By getting the experienced pacer Umesh Yadav and Brisbane Heat left-arm quick Spencer Johnson, they have back-up for Mohammed Shami. To add to their finishers David Miller and Rahul Tewatia, they have acquired Shahrukh Khan.

DC MAKE GOOD BUYS

Delhi Capitals' weakest link was their Indian batters while they needed a 'keeper-batter, a role Tristan Stubbs fills. They got a couple of good domestic options too -- Kumar Kushagara of Jharkhand has done well as Ishan Kishan's replacement while Ricky Bhui is an experienced domestic campaigner. They also got Harry Brook at ₹4 crore.

Having already done the smart work in the 2021 mega auction , LSG and RR have the most balanced sides. With the least budget -- LSG ₹13.15 crore and RR ₹14.5 crore, it was about timing their bids. LSG's focus was finding a quality fast bowling option apart from Mark Wood and they bought Shivam Mavi and Arshin Kulkarni.

Finishing has been Royals' weak spot and were went aggressively first up for Rovman Powell. He will be perfect down the order with Shimron Hetmyer.

RCB and Punjab Kings focussed mainly on getting the pacers. RCB added Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal and all-rounder Tom Curran while Kings went all out to get Harshal Patel ( ₹11.75 crore) and Chris Woakes ( ₹4.2 crore) too.