The teams as they stand today :
Chennai Super Kings : MSD, Albie Morkel, Raina, Murali Vijay (all retained). Mike Hussey,Saha, Dwayne Bravo, Bollinger, Ashwin, Badrinath.
--- Have tried to retain the same squad by buying Hussey, Bollinger, Badri and Ashwin. Ashwin and Badri came at a very high price compared to their base price. Bravo was a cheap buy. His availability would be question though. They tried hard to retain Murali but couldn't.
---------- Strong squad. Still need Indian players and a couple of more bowlers and all rounders.
Deccan Chargers: Kevin Pieterson , White, Sangakkara, Duminy, Dhawan, Steyn, Ishanth, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra.
--- Duminy, Ojha, Mishra are cheap buys. Ojha could play a big role. Steyn is their costliest and the best pick. Bowling is good. Sangakkara may be the dark horse. White could captain the side (he is Victorian Bushrangers captain too). Ishanth may be the weaker one here. Nice mix of players.
---------- Nice mix but not still balanced. No match winners barring Steyn.
Delhi Daredevils: Viru(retained), Irfan Pathan, Warner, Naman Ojha, Hopes, Morne Morkel, Aron Finch.
--- Viru with Warner opening the innings-most destructive. Ojha the best upcoming wicketkeeper . Irfan still doing rounds as a good all rounder. Aron Finch and Hopes are smart buys.
-----------Well balanced top order. Need to have bowlers though. having 3.5Million still in the kitty they may buy a few bowlers tomorrow.
Kings XI Punjab: Gilchrist, Shaun Marsh , Dinesh Karthik, Broad, Nayar, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla and Ryan Harris.
--- The balanced side doesn't quite tell you how their auction went about. Poor bidding cost them quite a few players. Nonetheless, the names make quite a reading and seem strong.
--------------- Balanced , yet something missing...
Kochi : Mahela Jayawardene, VVS Laxman, Brendon McCullum, Sreesanth, RP Singh, Parthiv Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Muralitharan, Steven Smith, Ramesh Powar, Brad Hodge.
--- Smart buys happened in the second half of the day. Dunno if VVS Laxman still fits into the T20 mode. RP, Sreesanth are messy one day, master the next. McCullum is unpredictable. Second half picks in Muralitharan, Jadeja, Steven Smith and Brad Hodge made it a decent outing for them.
---------------- Big names - yes, match winners - yes, but not right mix.
KKR: Kallis, Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Eoin Morgan, Brad Haddin, Brett Lee, Shakib Al Hasan, Manoj Tiwary.
--- Opened brilliantly with Gambhir, Kallis and Yusuf. Kallis, Morgan, Haddin and Lee could be their foreign players in the starting line up too. Made up for absence of all rounders in the first 3 seasons. A big big name is missing from the mix of things here, Yes. Ganguly. Kolkata = Ganguly, would be difficult to imagine a side without him for both his fans and in in Eden Gardens.
---------------- Opened brilliantly, but missed out on a lot of Indian players. With just over a million to spend would be interesting to see their strategy. Very strong. need to complete the jigsaw though.
Mumbai Indians: Sachin, Malinga, Pollard , Harbhajan (retained). Rohit Sharma, Davy Jacobs, Symonds, James Franklin.
--- Too costly a price for Rohit, more than Sachin now. Dunno what they are trying now. Held back because of a smaller purse after costly buys.
----------------- Indian players needed. need a right mix.
Pune Warriors: Yuvraj, Graeme Smith, Robin Uthappa, Tim Paine, Angelo Mathews, Ashish Nehra, Nathan McCullum, Callum Fergusson.
--- Best Players in the auction. Bought/Snatched Uthappa from RCB. Fanatic bidding for Uthappa, Yuvraj, Angelo. but at the end of the day, Pune emerge the strongest at the end of the first day bidding. Impressive bidding from Sahara team.
----------------- Well Balanced. Go for the kill with still 2million left.
Rajasthan Royals: Warne, Watson(retained). Ross Taylor, Dravid, Botha, Collingwood
--- Reduced auction purse. Ross Taylor is a good buy, but Dravid the surprise pick. Botha and Collinwood good allrounders. Never expected Botha to go for such a great price.
----------------- Far from calling themselves a team. Foundation is ok. Lets see what happens.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (retained), Dilshan , Zaheer, AB DeVilliers, Vettori, Saurabh Tiwary, Dirk Nannes, Pujara.
--- Comfortable, decisive. Knew what they wanted and bid appropriately. Should also be thanking the stars for getting Dilshan, Vettori and Nannes at that rate. Kumble played a great role in picking the team one would presume. Kohli the captain ???
----------------- Very strong on paper. Match winners all the way. Well balanced. Strong.
Lets see what is in store tomorro !!!
