Virat Kohli has had a rough time converting his 50s to three figures recently, but his T20I form is still stellar, receiving the Player of the Series award in the India Vs England T20I series.
The real question is when will Kohli-ABD convert the semi-finals & finals into IPL trophies? I think 2021 is RCB’s year. Keep on reading this preview.
4th. Probably an accurate reflection. When RCB edged out KKR & KXIP narrowly for the fourth spot, not many complained. When RCB crashed out at the hands of Kane Williamson, nobody complained either.
Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers, picking up 21 wickets.
Devdutt Padikkal did not seem like the ‘new kid on the block.’ Scored 473 runs as an opener and played some mature knocks.
The S factor – Mohammad Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar might not have had the best IPL 2020, but in Australia, they formed the bowling core of the 3rd and 4th Tests. Their maturity was brilliant to watch.
Devdutt Padikkal has tested postive for coronavirus. He might not make the first two games due to quarantine protocols. Big blow for RCB, and not the only one.
Josh Philippe has withdrawn days before the IPL for personal reasons. The only good news is that Finn Allen, who just scored a whirlwind 71(29) against Bangladesh in a T20I, is recruited as a replacement.
All-Rounders: Pavan Deshpande, Harshal Patel, Shahbaz Ahmed
Fast Medium: Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar
Spinners: Yuzvendra Chahal
Overseas: Finn Allen, Dan Christian, AB de Villiers, Kyle Jamieson, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Adam Zampa
Withdrawn: Josh Philippe
Predicted RCB XI
The Padikkal absence and Kohli’s insistence of Kohli-Sharma T20I opening partnership can change things up for RCB. One option is a Kohli-Azharuddeen partnership at the top. Alternatively, pair Finn Allen up at the top, drop everyone one spot, and replace one of Christian or Jamieson.
1. Mohammed Azharuddeen, 2.*Virat Kohli (C), 3. AB de Villiers(WK), 4. Glenn Maxwell, 5.Daniel Christian, 6. Washington Sundar, 7.Kyle Jamieson/Daniel Sams/Adam Zampa, 8. Shahbaz Ahmed/Harshal Patel, 9. Mohammed Siraj, 10. Navdeep Saini, 11. Yuzvendra Chahal
*Devdutt Padikkal slots in at 2 whenever he recovers with everyone moving down a slot.
Watch Out For
Virat Kohli, the opener. 2016 season all over again? Maybe a little change is all Virat needs to get back in top gear.
Mohammed Azharuddeen lit up the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with a 37-ball 100 and ended up as the third highest run scorer in the tournament. If Azharuddeen-Padikkal can form a solid opening partnership at the top, the middle order can be really destructive.
Jamieson has seen lots of highs & lows recently with the IPL auction & the Australia T20I series, but the one to really watch out would be Dan Christian. A veteran and winner of almost all T20 championships, he is the fix that RCB never had. Overdependence on Kohli-ABD no more. With Maxwell, Dan Christan, and insurance policy of Sundar and Jamieson below, RCB finally have the consistent finishing.
Where Can Things Go Wrong For the Challengers?
All good, except they no longer play in Bangalore. With 8 games combined in Chennai & Kolkata, the likes of Maxwell & Christian might struggle. However, the spin duo of Sundar-Chahal might come to the rescue.
No other major flaws as long as Saini-Siraj can keep their economy rates in check.
Venues & Fixtures
Venues
Kolkata- 5, Ahmedabad- 4, Chennai- 3, Mumbai- 2
Fixtures
9 April: MI vs RCB (Chennai)
14 April: SRH vs RCB (Chennai)
18 April: RCB vs KKR (Chennai)
22 April: RCB vs RR (Mumbai)
25 April: CSK vs RCB (Mumbai)
27 April: DC vs RCB (Ahmedabad)
30 April: PBKS vs RCB (Ahmedabad)
3 May: KKR vs RCB (Ahmedabad)
6 May: RCB vs PBKS (Ahmedabad)
9 May: RCB vs SRH (Kolkata)
14 May: RCB vs DC (Kolkata)
16 May: RR vs RCB (Kolkata)
20 May: RCB vs MI (Kolkata)
23 May: RCB vs CSK (Kolkata)
25 May: Qualifier 1 (Ahmedabad)
26 May: Eliminator (Ahmedabad)
28 May: Qualifier 2 (Ahmedabad)
30 May: Final (Ahmedabad)
Prediction
Prediction
1st
Most Runs
Virat Kohli
Most Wickets
Washington Sundar
Emerging Player
Mohammad Azharuddeen
Surprise Package
Finn Allen
X Factor
Dan Christian/ AB De Villiers
Broken Cricket Dream
Glenn Maxwell. Less of a broken dream, more of a warning. If Maxwell fails again, he would be the next Aaron Finch. Not to be picked in future auctions.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Preview Predictions
What do you think of the Royal Challengers Bangalore Preview? Your First XI? Will they make the IPL 2021 qualifiers?
Indian Premier League Auction 2021 – It is time for yet another iteration of the IPL.
The IPL held just last September provided joy to many amidst the pandemic, provided several life lessons, and had its share of Super Overs. Now, in the final season before the overhaul and big auction (may expand to 9 or 10 teams in 2022), a short auction was held last week.
The auction had its moments—Chris Morris, the most expensive player EVER, RCB splurging on lower order allrounders, and Sunrisers just present for the participation points (only bought 3 players).
Here is our review of Indian Premier League Auction 2021: The winners, the losers, early predictions, and expected starting XIs.
Here is a quick review of all the international players sold by country.
Afghanistan (Afg): Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Australia (Aus): Steven Smith, Ben Cutting, Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christan, Riley Meredith, Nathan Coulter Nile, Jhye Richardson, Moises Henriques
Bangladesh (Ban): Shakib Al Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman
England (Eng): Moeen Ali, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Dawid Malan, Liam Livingstone
New Zealand (NZ): Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne, Jimmy Neesham
South Africa (SA): Chris Morris, Marco Jansen
West Indies (WI): Fabian Allen
Australia were the big gainers with 8 picks (even though the likes of Aaron Finch and Marcus Labuschagne did not find a team), while Sri Lanka had 0 picks. It seems that the era of West Indies T20 freelance monopoly is coming to an end. England is snatching this tag given their marvelous limited overs depth.
Indian Premier League Auction 2021: Auction Highlights, Starting XI, and Early Predictions
*Note: The prices are in Indian Rupees as in the auction (Conversion: $1 U.S. dollar = 73 Rupees)
*Teams highlighted in their respective jersey colors
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
Auction Highlights
Indian Internationals: Cheteshwar Pujara (50 lac)
Indian Uncapped: Krishnappa Gowtham (9.25 crore), Harishankar Reddy (20 lac), Bhagath Verma (20 lac), C Hari Nishanth (20 lac)
Foreign Recruits: Moeen Ali – Eng (7 crore)
Verdict: Pujara finally gets an IPL deal while Gowtham & Moeen Ali can add the much needed zeal in the CSK lineup. Balanced bowling line up, local Chennai lads in the squad who lifted the Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy, and experience in the batting. Final round for Dhoni, Bravo, Uthappa, and Tahir?
Early Prediction: Barely miss the top 4 due to net run rate (The irony)
Squad:Dwayne Bravo, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, R Sai Kishore, Cheteshwar Pujara, Narayan Jagadeesan, Karn Sharma, KM Asif, C Hari Nishanth, Harisankar Reddy, K Bhagath Varma
Delhi Capitals (DC)
Auction Highlights
Indian Internationals: Umesh Yadav (1 crore)
Indian Uncapped: Ripal Patel (20 lac), Vishnu Vinod (20 lac), Lukman Meriwala (20 lac), M Siddharth (20 lac)
Foreign Recruits: Steven Smith – Aus (2.2 crore), Tom Curran (5.25 crore), Sam Billings (2 crore) – Eng
Verdict: Good buys for the reserves with Umesh, Steve Smith, Tom Curran, and Billings (Smith most likely to warm the bench). Settled XI, great balance, but can they capture the big moments and maintain momentum?
Early Prediction: The 2020 finalists go one step further? Champions?
Squad: Ajinkya Rahane, Steven Smith, Sam Billings (WK), Tom Curran, Chris Woakes, Avesh Khan, Lukman Meriwala, Lalit Yadav, Manimaran Siddharth, Praveen Dubey, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod (WK)
Indian Uncapped: Sheldon Jackson (20 lac), Vaibhav Arora (20 lac), Venkatesh Iyer (20 lac)
Foreign Recruits: Shakib Al Hasan – Ban (3.2 crore), Ben Cutting – Aus (75 lac)
Verdict: Shakib & Ben Cutting big steals for KKR, but not too sure about Harbhajan Singh & Pawan Negi? Envious finishing prowess, inexperienced Indian fast bowlers the concern, but the real question is—will Brendon McCullum’s notes produce the correct line-up?
Indian Uncapped: Yudhvir Singh (20 lac), Arjun Tendulkar (20 lac)
Foreign Recruits: Adam Milne (3.2 crore), Jimmy Neesham (50 lac) – NZ, Nathan Coulter-Nile (5 crore), Marco Jansen (20 lac) – SA
Verdict: Backups in the form of Chawla, Milne, Neesham & Zaheer Khan the mastermind behind the 20 year old left arm pacer, Marco Jansen. IPL 2021 is just an exercise to see how many different ways Mumbai Indians can come with to win the trophy.
Early Prediction: Just to change things a bit, they fail to qualify for the Top 4. Champions in the reverse direction (Who am I kidding?)
Foreign Recruits: Jhye Richardson – Aus (14 crore), Riley Meredith – Aus (8 crore), Dawid Malan – Eng (1.5 crore), Moises Henriques – Aus (4.2 crore), Fabian Allen – WI (75 lac)
Verdict: Dawid Malan, current word’s best T20 batsman, & Fabian Allen were quite the deal. Looking forward to Shahrukh Khan, the finisher, and hopefully Jalaj Saxena, the first class veteran. Definite contenders this time around. The change of name to PBKS to bring the luck?
Early Prediction: Top 4 Finish
Expected Starting XI
KL Rahul (C/WK), 2. Mayank Agarwal, 3. Dawid Malan/Chris Gayle, 4. Nicholas Pooran, 5. Deepak Hooda, 6. Shahrukh Khan, 7. Fabian Allen/ Moises Henriques, 8. Arshdeep Singh, 9. Chris Jordan/ Jhye Richardson, 10. Mohammad Shami, 11. Ravi Bishnoi
Foreign Recruits: Chris Morris – SA (16.25 crore), Mustafizur Rahman – Ban (1 crore), Liam Livingstone (75 lac)
Verdict: All weak points from IPL 2020 fixed. With Shivam Dube and Chris Morris, the double Rs may not have to rely on Tewatia magic alone. The foreign 4 pick themselves, but Miller, Livingstone, the Fizz, and Andrew Tye are T20 specialists themselves.
Early Prediction: Top 4 Finish…in the first half. Then momentum is lost, and they end up in the bottom two. The usual.
Foreign Recruits: Kyle Jamieson – NZ (15 crore), Glenn Maxwell – Aus (14.25 crore), Daniel Christian – Aus (4.8 crore)
Verdict: They won the Indian Premier League 2021 Auction battle—Maxwell, Kyle Jamieson, & Dan Christian. Finishing problems fixed. With basically the entire Indian bowling lineup returning from Australia’s success, promising uncapped openers, & the golden touch of Christian, RCB may finally cross the line.
Early Prediction: Finalists.
Expected Starting XI
1. Mohammed Azharudeen, 2. Devdutt Padikkal, 3. Virat Kohli (C), 4. AB de Villiers(WK), 5. Glenn Maxwell, 6. Daniel Christian, 7. Washington Sundar, 8. Kyle Jamieson/Daniel Sams, 9. Mohammed Siraj, 10. Navdeep Saini, 11. Yuzvendra Chahal
Foreign Recruits: Mujeeb Ur Rahman (1.5 crore) – Afg
Verdict: Kedhar Jadhav is a good backup choice for Vijay Shankar in case of injuries & Nabi-Rashid-Mujeeb together in Hyderabad, wow! They have the options, but can they figure their best XI in time?
Early Prediction: SRH lose several matches at the start, out of contention early, but will break the dreams of the teams in the middle at the backend of the tournament. Bottom 4 Finish.
Expected Starting XI
David Warner (C), 2. Wriddhiman Saha (WK), 3. Manish Pandey, 4. Kane Williamson, 5. Vijay Shankar/Kedar Jadhav, 6. Priyam Garg/Abdul Samad, 7. Rashid Khan, 8. Jason Holder/Mohammad Nabi/ Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, 9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10. T Natarajan, 11. Sandeep Sharma
Since this is the final IPL before the big auction in 2022, this small auction was expected to have several players unsold.
Broken Dreams of IPL 2021 Auctions:
Hanuma Vihari—hero of Sydney. Unpicked in the first couple of rounds, his name was called again for the final auction round. Still unsold. Insult to injury. Literally. (The only prominent currently in the Indian setup to not have a deal since Pujara was picked).
Aaron Finch—one of the best T20I players of all-time just could not manage a consistent IPL season.
Shaun Marsh, an end of an era. Along with Shane Watson, was the bright overseas star. KXIP stalwart in the early years, Orange Cap of IPL 2008, but could not buy any buyers.
Alex Hales. Enough said.
IPL Auction 2021: Entire Unsold List
Foreign: Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Evin Lewis, Aaron Finch, Glenn Phillips, Alex Carey, Kusal Perera, Sheldon Cottrell, Adil Rashid, Ish Sodhi, Qais Ahmad, Sandeep Lamichhane, Rovman Powell, Shaun Marsh, Corey Anderson, Devon Conway, Darren Bravo, Rassie van der Dussen, Martin Guptill, Marnus Labuschagne, Oshane Thomas, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jason Behrendorff, Naveen Ul Haq, Ben Dwarshuis, Thisara Perera, Ben McDermott, Matthew Wade, Sean Abbott, Josh Inglish, Scott Kuggeleijn, Wayne Parnell, Reece Topley, Chris Green, Isuru Udana, George Linda, Jack Wildermuth, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David
Your Opinion Matters: Was Maxwell Overpriced & Hales Unlucky?
Let us know what you thought about the auction by commenting here below:
Was Glenn Maxwell overpriced? Is 2021 the year or are we still carrying IPL 2014 nostalgia?
The likes of Adil Rashid and Alex Hales do not find a team. First team England ditch Hales & now after top scoring in the BBL, no buyers. Contender for the unluckiest player of All-Time?
Steal of the Auction: Shakib Al Hasan, Dawid Malan, Fabian Allen, or Ben Cutting?
KKR’s buy of Harbhajan Singh? Why?
Here were my biggest winners and losers from Indian Premier League 2021 Auction. What did you think? What are YOUR predictions? Comment Below!