The hurly burly is done, the battle remains to be lost and won.
The 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League auction concluded last night and like every auction, this one threw up new millionaires and multiplied the millions in others' bank accounts.
Varun Chakravarthy and Shivam Dube, two uncapped Indian players, rose from their base price of Rs 20 lakh to Rs 840 lakh and Rs 500 lakh respectively. Rajasthan Royals once again broke the bank, paying Rs 8.4 crore for the services of Jaydev Unadkat and Kings XI Punjab made Sam Curran the highest paid foreigner at Rs 7.2 crore.
But which of these players will actually make the starting 11 of their respective franchises when the much-awaited T20 league beings?
Analysing the strengths, weaknesses and considering a sixth bowling option, International Business Times, India predicts the possible combination of each team:
Chennai Super Kings
Captain: MS Dhoni
Notable buys: Mohit Sharma
Predicted 11: Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (WK), Sam Billings, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Mohit Sharma, Imran Tahir
Delhi Capitals
Captain: Shreyas Iyer
Notable buys: Colin Ingram, Axar Patel, Hanuma Vihari, Ishant Sharma
Predicted 11: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), Colin Ingram, Chris Morris, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Sandeep Lamichhane
Kolkata Knight Riders
Captain: Dinesh Karthik
Notable buys: Carlos Brathwaite, Lockie Ferguson, Joe Denly
Predicted 11: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Shubman Gill, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite/Joe Denly, Piyush Chawla/Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna
Kings XI Punjab
Captain: Ravichandran Ashwin (yet to be confirmed)
Notable buys: Varun Chakravarthy, Sam Curran, Mohammed Shami, Prabhsimran Singh, Nicholas Pooran
Predicted 11: Chris Gayle/Nicholas Pooran (WK), KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal/Mandeep Singh, David Miller, Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin, Andrew Tye, Mohammed Shami, Ankit Rajpoot, Varun Chakravarthy
Mumbai Indians
Captain: Rohit Sharma
Notable buys: Barinder Sran, Lasith Malinga, Yuvraj Singh
Predicted 11: Quinton de Kock (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Ben Cutting, Jason Behrendoff, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Markande
Rajasthan Royals
Captain: Ajinkya Rahane
Notable buys: Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aaron, Oshane Thomas
Predicted 11: Ajinkya Rahane, Jos Buttler (WK), Steve Smith, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aaron
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Captain: Virat Kohli
Notable buys: Shivam Dube, Shimron Hetmeyer, Akshdeep Nath, Prayas Ray Barman, Henrich Klaasen
Predicted 11: Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel (WK), AB De Villiers, Shimron Hetmeyer, Marcus Stoinis, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj
SunRisers Hyderabad
Captain: Kane Williamson
Notable buys: Johnny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha, Martin Guptill
Predicted 11: David Warner, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddhath Kaul
