In the Cricketing world, IPL auctions dominated this Valentine’s day weekend with players forming new relationships, re-aligning old relationships, and losing love in IPL forever; such is the nature of relationships built purely on money-focused only on returns. The mega auctions included two new Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Supergiants.
Let us look at the exciting aspects and the likely playing XI for each of these teams:
Mumbai Indians (MI)
The Mumbai team sent the social media drooling over the prospect of seeing Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer operating together. Major League Baseball uses “lights out” to describe a pitcher’s hitless stint at the mound. So it will be quite the “sight” when Jofra and Jasprit turn the lights off on an unlucky IPL team.
Coming to the XI, the Mumbai Indians have favoured going in with a big-hitting team backed up by wicket-taking fast bowlers over the years. The current squad has fewer experienced batters and lots of foreign all-rounders. It will be a tricky effort for Rohit to put together his playing XI. He will be forced to play at least a couple of uncapped players in his XI.
Possible Playing XI for IPL 2022:
Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (WK), Surya Kumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis (UC), Tilak Varma, Kieron Pollard, Fabien Allen, Tymal Mills, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande
I expect Tymal Mills to play in 2022 as Jofra is not fit yet. Therefore, Dewald Brevis is my left-field pick rather than Tim David, who seems the favourite.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
The Chennai team kept their faith in their previous team and bought back many during the auction. However, Suresh Raina was the notable absentee in their picks. Chennai has kept their faith in multi-skilled players picking up Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Shivam Dube, Dwayne Pretorius from the auction.
I assume they will continue to have a team with at least eight batting options and six bowling options. Unlike the MI team, putting together a playing XI for CSK is easy.
Possible Playing XI for IPL 2022:
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Robin Uthappa, Shivam Dube, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Moen Ali, MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Adam Milne
Kolkatta Knight Riders (KKR)
KKR went aggressively on day one of the auctions to pick up Shreyas Iyer. I guess Iyer will be the prime captaincy candidate for the next few seasons. However, their jubilation at picking Ajinkya Rahane during the auction might allude to a googly from their side. Like MI, picking a XI for KKR is tricky, and I expect them to load their team with all-rounders to cover up for the lack of experienced T20 batters.
Possible Playing XI for IPL 2022:
Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Naraine, Ajinkya Rahane, Sam Billings, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Sheldon Jackson, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Pat Cummins
Delhi Capitals (DC)
Delhi Capitals auction unit focused on everyone’s attention during the weekend, considering their trigger-happy bidding. They made great picks like Mitchell Marsh, David Warner, and Yash Dhull.
Possible Playing XI for IPL 2022:
Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant, Mandeep Singh, Yash Dhull, Axar Patel, Shardul Takur, Sarfaraz Khan, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman
Punjab Kings (PBKS)
The absence of the owner, Priety Zinta, made their bidding unit look a bit sober! However, they made some exciting picks during the auction, loading themselves with explosive batting talent. They have done a fantastic job at the auctions, and I am excited to see this team in the upcoming IPL season.
Possible Playing XI for IPL 2022:
Mayank Agrawal, Shikar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Rishi Dhawan, Shahrukh Khan, Raj Angad Bawa, Odean Smith, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
The RCB has been one of the more high-profile teams in the league. However, they have underachieved in all these years, considering their talent at their disposal. They once again have a good squad on paper to go the distance.
Possible Playing XI for IPL 2022:
Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Kartik, Mahipal Lomror, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj, David Willey, Josh Hazlewood
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)
LSG is one of the two new teams in this IPL 2022. They have put together a good starting squad. However, they are heavily loaded on the foreigners on the talent scale. This lopsidedness will make picking their playing XI quite tricky.
Possible Playing XI for IPL 2022:
KL Rahul, Quinton De Kock, Manish Pandey, Manan Vohra, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mark Wood
Gujarat Titans (GT)
The second of the new teams in this IPL had an excellent auction outing. They did some intelligent picking before the auctions and continued to load up their team with impact players. Considering the group’s balance, they might have to hand the wicket keeping job to Wriddhiman Saha and play Mathew Wade as a pure top-order batter.
Possible Playing XI for IPL 2022:
Shubman Gill, Jason Roy, Mathew Wade, Hardik Pandya, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Wriddhiman Saha, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, R Sai Kishore, Lockie Fergusson
Rajasthan Royals (RR)
RR has put together a good squad with good batting and bowling options. They will not have too many tricky choices while picking their playing XI. My playing XI for RR will be:
Possible Playing XI for IPL 2022:
Jos Butler, Sanju Samson, Devdutt Padikal, Yashavi Jaiswal, Rassie van der Dussen, James Neesham, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzuvendra Chahal, Trent Boult.
I will rotate between Shimron Hetmeyer, Rassie VD and Daryl Mitchell for batting roles.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
SRH has been the quiet team for the past few years in terms of both on-field performances and off-field activities, their tiff with David Warner notwithstanding. They have put together a good squad, unlike what social media would like you to believe.
Possible Playing XI for IPL 2022:
Kane Williamson, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Priyam Garg, Washington Sundar, Abdul Samad, T.Natarajan, Shreyas Gopal, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Marcon Jansen, Sean Abbott
SRH might look to use Nicholas Pooran and Glen Phillips interchangeably as their wicket-keeper batter across the tournament.
My Prediction:
I expect CSK, DC and PBKS to make it to the playoffs of this IPL 2022. The fourth position will be a toss-up between RCB and MI. I expect CSK to emerge victorious, considering the depth of high-quality all-rounders in their ranks.
