IPL 2025 Teams, Strength and weakness

The IPL mega auction took place on 24 and 25 November in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 7 teams bought 22 to 25 players, while Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad teams could buy only 20-21 players. PBKS, DC and RCB teams, who came with the biggest purse, looked almost perfect.

Delhi bought big players at a low price, while KKR could not buy any captain. The finishing of Mumbai, Rajasthan and Hyderabad is coming out weak. At the same time, the top-4 of Lucknow and Kolkata looked weak. Due to the impact player rule in IPL, 12 players play in the match, so this time fewer all-rounders were bought.

1. Chennai Super Kings: Spin department strong, Dhoni's fellow finisher not bought

Strength: Strengthened the core by buying old players like Conway, Rachin, Ashwin, Karan. Noor, Jadeja and Ashwin are making the spin department very strong. Bought 9 all-rounders, out of which 5 will also be part of the playing-12. The team's backup is also strong.

Weakness: 42-year-old Dhoni is the only finisher. Karan, Jadeja and Ashwin are weak as finishers. There are no proper players to support Pathirana in the pace bowling department as well. Invested more money on young pacers, which could prove to be risky.

Possible-12: Rituraj Gaikwad (captain), Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Shivam Dubey, Sam Karan, MS Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Khalil Ahmed, Noor Ahmed, Mathish Pathirana.

2. Mumbai Indians: Strong batting and bowling, lack of finisher

Strength: The team's top order batting is strong due to the presence of Indian international players. Bumrah, Boult and Chahar are strengthening the pace bowling. Santner and Ghazanfar fit in the spin department.

Weakness: There is no finisher in the team to support Hardik. Young Robin Minj will come at number-7, if he flops then the team's finishing will become very weak. There is no backup Indian wicketkeeper either.

Possible-12: Rohit Sharma, Will Jacks, Tilak Verma, Suryakumar Yadav, Naman Dheer, Hardik Pandya (captain), Robin Minj (wicketkeeper), Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Allah Ghazanfar, Trent Boult, Jaspreet Bumrah.

3. Kolkata Knight Riders: Captain not bought, finishing very strong

Strength: Top class finishers are present from number-4 to 7. If Narine opens then there is also an option to increase bowling. Chakraborty, Harshit, Nortya and Vaibhav are also making the bowling strong.

Weakness: Captain not bought; previous captain Shreyas was bought by Punjab. A lot of money was spent on Venkatesh, but it is difficult to fit him in the playing-11. His presence is weakening the top order of the team.

Possible-12: Quinton de Kock (WK), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Enrique Nortya, Varun Chakraborty, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande.

4. Sunrisers Hyderabad: Strong batting-bowling, finishing a bit weak

Strength: Top-5 batsmen are very explosive, last season, with their help, the best score of IPL was made. Bowling has also been strengthened by buying Harshal and Shami.

Weakness: Finishing options are weak after Klaasen. There are players like Manohar and Mendis, but they are not able to increase the strength of the team.

Possible-12: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (wicketkeeper), Kamindu Mendis, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins (captain), Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Jaydev Unadkat.

5. Royal Challengers Bangalore: Did not buy big names, made a balanced team; captain not decided

Strength: Did not bid on big names like Maxwell, Pant, Rahul, Shreyas. Bought T-20 specialists like Salt, Livingstone, Jitesh, Krunal. Bhuvneshwar, Dayal and Rasikh are strengthening the bowling.

Weakness: Suyash Sharma can be risky as a wrist spinner. After releasing Du Plessis, did not buy the captain either. The spin department is a bit weak.

Possible-12: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Krunal Pandya, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Tim David, Swapnil Singh/Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal.

6. Delhi Capitals: Strong batting and bowling; finishing depends on Indians

Strength: Delhi made the smartest purchase in the auction. The team bought players like Rahul, Starc, Natarajan, Ashutosh at low prices. Both batting and bowling departments are strong.

Weakness: Ashutosh and Akshar will be responsible for finishing. No foreigner was bought at this position, if the Indian player flops then the team may face problems here.

Possible-12: Jack Fraser-Magark, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Sameer Rizvi/Abhishek Porel, Harry Brook, Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Akshar Patel, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Thangarasu Natarajan, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar.

7. Punjab Kings: Bought the most expensive players, but made the team strong

Strength: Bought a stable captain in the form of Shreyas. Made the finishing very strong with Wadhera, Maxwell, Stoinis. Arshdeep, Chahal and Jansen are also strengthening the bowling.

Weakness: Maxwell has been a flop in IPL for the last few years, Ferguson also proves to be expensive at times. Bought 3 such players from Australia, who have not been able to prove themselves in India.

Possible-12: Prabhsimran Singh (wicketkeeper), Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Shashank Singh, Glenn Maxwell, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Lockie Ferguson.

8. Lucknow Supergiants: Top order weak, finisher strong

Strength: Pooran, Miller, Shahbaz and Samad are strengthening the finishing. Pant plays fast in IPL, which is also strengthening the middle order.

Weakness: Marsh and Markram are out of form in T20, if both of them do not perform then Lucknow will be under pressure from the powerplay itself. The fitness of Mohsin and Mayank will also be a concern for the team.

Possible-12: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Ayush Badoni, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Nicholas Pooran, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan/Akash Deep.

9. Gujarat Titans: Middle order weak, bowling-finishing strong

Strength: Butler's arrival strengthened the opening, also provided a strong wicketkeeping option. Finishing and bowling have been further strengthened.

Weakness: Sudarshan and Lomror are risky options in the middle order. Siraj, Rabada and Sundar prove to be expensive at times.

Possible-12: Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Shubman Gill (captain), Sai Sudarshan, Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Phillips, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Washington Sundar, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.

10. Rajasthan Royals: Weak finishing, no backup players either; strong batting-bowling

Strength: Retained the batsmen, strengthened the batting further by buying Nitish Rana and Shubham Dubey. Hasranga, Archer, Farooqui and Sandeep Sharma are strengthening the bowling department.

Weakness: There are no good finishers to support Hetmyer. There is no strong backup for injured and out of form players.

Possible-12: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (captain and wicketkeeper), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Dubey, Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Fazalhaq Farooqui, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma.

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