The next team is Delhi Daredevils. They retained only Viru Shewag and ended up losing almost all the components of the winning team they had (Gambhir, Karthik, Vettori, Nannes, AB, Dilshan, and Amit Mishra). What they do have is a good set of openers in Shewag, Warner, and Finch. One of these 2 Aussies would play all the games for Delhi. Other than openers, they have good allrounders in Irfan Pathan ($1.9M seems a lot) and James Hopes. They also got wicket keeper/opener Naman Ojha and fast bowler Morne Morkel. They now need middle order batsmen, fast bowlers, and spinners. On day 1, they lost many bids to other teams which leaves them over $3M for day 2. Among Indian players on day 2, they would go for Umesh Yadav, Sudeep Tyagi, Manpreet Gony, VRV Singh, and Pankaj Singh. Their focus on overseas players would be batsmen and spinners like Katich, Andy McDonald, Abdur Razzak, Mike Lumb, and Suraj Randiv. Delhi do however, have talented players from the Catchment area like Rajat Bhatia, Ladda, Vikas Mishra, Mithun Minhas, Pradeep Sangwan, and leggie Nanda. Overall, I would rate them a B- (for losing out on the Indian players they wanted).
The new team Pune warriors showed their inexperience. They spent $6.87M for 8 players. Its not clear to me what their strategy was or who their captain would be. They got Uthappa for $2.1M (yes, its not a typo). Then Yuvraj for $1.8M (Punjab couldnt get rid of him any earlier). Their international players include Angelo Mathews (their only decent pick), Graeme Smith, Callum Ferguson, Tim Paine, and Nathan McCullum. The only true fast bowler they picked was the home town boy (rather man) Nehra. Based on this selection they don't need anymore wicket keepers. They would need help in all the other departments. With only $2.13M left, they would be pressed to bid for most domestic players remaining and hope for a lot of luck. Their performance on day 1 would get them a C- grade.
Kolkata Knight Riders seemed to have turned a new leaf by not taking Ganguly and not having Mr. Khan on the bidding table. They did end up spending $7.57M but they got a good group together headed by the future India captain Gambhir. He would be ably assisted by batsmen Eoin Morgan and home boy Manoj Tiwary, allrounders Yusuf Pathan, Kallis, and Shakid Al Hasan, fast bowler Brett Lee and keeper Haddin. They would now go after home boy Dinda and other fellow Indian fast bowlers. Among non-Indian players Tamim Iqbal and Syed Rasel from Bangalesh would be key additions apart from West Indian players Benn and Simmons. Unfortunately I don't see too many valuable catchment area players. LR Shukla, Ranadeb Bose, and Goswami would make it to the playing XI. Overall a grade of B-.
Now to the last 2 teams who made it into IPL-4 due to their lawyers. Rajasthan Royals retained Watson and Warne. In hindsight they should have kept Yusuf Pathan as well. In any case, they have their key international picks: Ross Taylor, Botha, and Collingwood. The only Indian player they selected was Rahul Dravid. So, this team would be actively pursuing all the Indian players and very few international players. Even though they made it to the Ranji players, I am not sure if they have a good group of catchment area players. So overall I don't expect them to do well and would rate them an F (they have little more than $2M to spend on day 2). One word of caution - wily Warne is capable of springing up many surprises like he did in the first 3 seasons.
Finally, Kings XI Punjab, who have cleaned shop and started on a clean slate. They picked up 9 players with only Chawla and Shaun Marsh coming back. Gily would be their new captain and a nice group of new ball bowlers in Praveen Kumar, Ryan Harris, and Stu Broad. They also got a good allrounder Abishek Nayar and back-up keeper Dinesh Karthik (out bidding Delhi with ($900K). They have over $2.17 remaining for day 2 and could go after every remaining Indian batsmen and international spinner. Their catchment area players of note include young Karan Goel, Ladda, and Rahul Sharma. I would however give them a B+ since they have picked all high impact players who will contribute their best.
Hopefully, I will have a shorter one after day 2. Cheers!
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