IPL auction

The IPL auction is nearing. My name is Vinay Babla: a cricket fanatic and a huge DD fan. To put it simply, I havent had a lot of joy watching DD in the 6 years that have passed. I have watched a lot of the IPL as well as international cricket and I have some thoughts to offer. I want DD to win so badly and Id like some consideration of them at the very least. Thank you. Firstly, good Indian buys are a rarity in the auction, particularly given the retentions of many already. The 7:4 ratio means Indians form the core of the team and overseas are built around them. It is also worth noting that there is a particular scarcity in good Indian batsmen. There has been a skewing of retention towards that of Indian batsmen. 10 genuine batsmen were retained to the 2 genuine bowlers. (Jadeja is a bowling AR while Binny a batting AR, so balance there and each cancels the other). There is less quality in the bowling which explains why they are not quite as valuable as the batsmen. This is why I propose there should be an overseas ratio of 3 batsmen: 1 bowler (or 2 batsmen, 1 batting AR, 1 bowler AT THE VERY LEAST). Best overseas buys (ie. those I deem to be great buys): Johnson can get hit around a bit but very good up front with new ball, gets swing, has pace and tends to take early wickets. Can also come back in middle overs/death but he is a great buy because of the early damage he is capable of doing. Warner bit hit and miss but again, can win matches single handedly. Can turn it on too and worth spending a decent amount on. If bidding gets too high, DD should not get over-excited and right to match him for the sake of it. Finch Another very good opener, more reliable and consistent than Warner, though slightly less dangerous. There is not a lot separating them and he scored truckloads of T20I runs last year, along with his good IPL scoring. Much improved player. Bailey This man cant stop scoring runs and can be a very good buy because quality middle order batsmen are a rarity. Scored so many runs in the 7 match ODI series and showed he could turn it on. Slightly sceptical of his T20 credentials following that, but he smashed England around in the T20Is and also has scored heavily in the BBL. Also a good captain. Hodge Similar to Bailey, dependable but has played so much T20 cricket that he has so much experience and can be relied upon. Also a middle/lower middle order batsman which makes him special as he can rescue an innings or finish one off. Seems to thrive chasing too. Marsh Shaun Marshs IPL record is pretty good and he is a good batsman. Can bat one down or at 4, very good at building an innings and hits the ball so hard. Vast array of shots and generally, if he wants to up his scoring, he pulls it off. Shown a dip in the last few seasons though.

Starc Very good with the white ball. Similar to Johnson except he adds something different. Very good upfront again, but can bowl at any time during the innings and is a good death bowler. Also has fine stats in both T20Is and T20 cricket overall. Smith Dwayne Smith scored a lot of runs last season and seems much improved. Was a good reason why MI won the trophy. Reliable and consistent performer and also a good fielder. Can bowl a bit too. KP now no longer an England player so availability not an issue like it was in previous seasons. Good IPL record and obviously still has the ability to score a lot of runs. Can score rapidly and turn it on, can win games single handedly and also a big match player. Only issue with KP is the right to match card. I fear that bidding may get a bit high for him and DD shouldnt be spending TOO much of their budget on him when matching the highest bid. It is worth remembering there is a good pool of good overseas batsmen. Morgan very good middle order batsman, seems good at calculating and sizing up an innings. Can build an innings well but equally good at finishing. Versatile, very reliable performer and matchwinner. Hales one of the best T20 batsmen in the world, as the rankings show. Scores quickly and pretty reliable matchwinner, tends to get team off to good start, can go berserk too. Shakib very good bowler, handy with the bat too. He took 6/6 last year in CPL and performed in all T20 cricket. His IPL stats are very strong, can bowl economical and strangle the batsmen but also a proven wicket taker. Perera pretty much the only SL player who turned up last year. Can get hit around a bit but can grab key wickets. Also can smash the ball around like he did last year, finishing some games for SRH. Took Robin Peterson for 34 in one over last year, if you miss your length, he tends to punish you with big hits. Brendon Brilliant player, can also captain. Can bat anywhere in top 4 really and smashes the ball everywhere. Dangerous player, one of the best in the world, as the rankings reflect, no. 1 in world, hasnt got the greatest IPL record, but great buy. Anderson has had a brilliant limited overs year so far, smashing bowlers to all parts whilst also taking some wickets. Remains to be seen how he fares in subcontinent but seems a good enough all round player. Neesham Similar to Anderson, just done less on the international stage. Had a brilliant CLT20 in India and seems to hit a long ball, along with decent (albeit a bit hittable) medium pace. Duminy Batting in his most recent T20Is has been very good, which has been in subcontinental conditions. Also a very handy off spinner and a good fielder. He has done well in the past in IPL and recently for Cobras too.

Also, if a good wicket keeper batsman e.g. Dinesh Karthik, is not bought, then I feel Luke Ronchi and De Kock should be moved into thelist. Ronchi has been so good for NZ of late in limited overs, in all conditions and De Kock scores heavily and should be considered, despite his poor outings last year. Overall batsmen ranking in order of best buy (BAT): Finch, Bailey (c), KP, McCullum (c), Warner, Hodge, Smith, Hales, Morgan, Marsh Top order batsmen ranking in order of best buy (TO): Finch, KP, McCullum (c), Warner, Smith, Hales, Middle order batsmen/finishers (MF): Bailey (c), Hodge, Morgan Batting all rounders in order of best buy (BAR): Duminy, Anderson, Perera, Neesham, Bowlers in order of best buy (BOWL): Starc, Johnson, Shakib Given the greater top order quality of available Indian batsmen, I would suggest if 3 batsmen are picked, then there is a 2:1 ratio of TO:MF or a 1:2 ratio. Consideration must be given to the latter. If 2 are picked then it is advisable going 1:1 of TO:MF, though the presence of the BAR does give some allowance for 2:0. Hence my ideal picks would be: 3 BAT : 0 BAR : 1 BOWL = 2 TO : 1 MF : 0 BAR : 1 BOWL = Finch, KP, Bailey (c), Starc 1 TO : 2 MF : 0 BAR : 1 BOWL = Finch, Bailey (c), Hodge, Starc 2 BAT : 1 BAR : 1 BOWL 2 TO : 0 MF : 1 BAR : 1 BOWL = Finch, KP, Duminy, Starc 1 TO : 1 MF : 1 BAR : 1 BOWL = Finch, Bailey (c), Duminy, Starc Ideal circumstances, however, are not always acquirable and given the quality that ranges across all these overseas players, I think it would be fine to pick any of them following the 3:0:1 or 2:1:1 ratio.

I really think DD should be aggressive with their overseas players and try and get some of these following this ratio. I think in particular we really bid aggressively for Starc as he is a fine bowler and very good seamers are a rarity in this format. We should at the very least come out of the auction with one of Starc, Johnson or Shakib. We can afford to be a bit less stingy on the batting front, given their greater supply. Other notable overseas who I think would be good buys (in no particular order): Jacques Kallis, Faf Du Plessis, Mike Hussey, Darren Sammy, Steven Smith, Nathan McCullum, Cameron White, Glenn Maxwell, Chris Morris, Luke Wright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rangana Herath, Ben Cutting, Ben Hilfenhaus, Vernon Philander, Jackson Bird Best Indian buys: Yuvraj His form has been poor of late as is his IPL record but one of few good Indian batsmen available and also a handy left arm spin bowler. Could slot in well in middle order. Murali Vijay Again, one of rare Indian batsmen available. IPL record overall is good but last few years have not been so good. Dinesh Karthik would be a great buy in my opinion. Keeper so fulfils that role and good middle order batsman. Mishra very good spin bowler, performed in pretty much every season, takes lots of wickets but also tends to strangle batsmen in middle overs Uthappa can keep so helps but also a decent reliable batsman who can open the innings or shift down the order if need be. Tiwary decent middle order performer, scores reasonably well and seems to have improved as seasons have gone on, shortage of batsmen has led to him making this list Parthiv Patel wicket keeper who can open up and tends to score reasonable runs up top, tends to get starts with 30s and 40s, but fails to push on, still a good buy because indian who can bat and keep Saha shortage of keepers forced this move, good glovework and score a few runs low down the order, desperate buy Shami one of the better indian bowlers, tends to take wickets often Bhuvneshwar Kumar tends to bowl well up front and swing the white ball, international indian bowler and tends to make early breakthroughs

Praveen Kumar very similar to Bhuvneshwar and very reliable bowler up front, very little between him and Bhuvneshwar in both skill and style Vinay Kumar can get hit around a bit but generally takes wickets and sometimes wins games with good death bowling Umesh Yadav had a really poor season last year but among the fastest of indian bowlers available, can perform well as he showed in 2012, may be worth buying back Piyush Chawla good spinner, bowled well in middle overs last year, introduced variety last year with this quicker ball that got the better of a few batsmen, also a good lower order hitter Pragyan Ojha previous purple cap holder who has performed in most seasons, good spinner who tends to bowl tightly to go with 1 or 2 wickets Rahul Sharma pretty economical bowler, picks up odd wicket here and there to go with the strangle in the middle overs Badrinath similar to Tiwary Varun Aaron very similar to Umesh Yadav Awana very good in 2012, not so good last year but one of the better indian seamers in the IPL Balaji reliable performer, can lose his side games with poor death bowling but can also win games and strangle teams with variation Mohit Sharma bowled extremely well with new ball for CSK last year, great areas and often picked up wickets with a reasonable economy to go with it Unadkat good bowler, put in a few good performances last year Pankaj Singh not one of the bigger names in the IPL but I seem to remember some very good new ball bowling from him in a few seasons, good outswing Batsmen ranking: Dinesh Karthik (wk), Vijay, Yuvraj, Uthappa (wk), Parthiv (wk), Badrinath, Tiwary, Saha (wk) Seamer ranking: Shami, Mohit, Praveen, Bhuvneshwar, Vinay, Balaji, Umesh, Aaron, Unadkat, Awana

Spinner ranking: Mishra, Ojha, Chawla, Rahul Sharma As seen, there really seems to be a lack of quality Indian batsmen and given that we should be able to get some Indian bowlers (we could even right to match Umesh and/or Aaron if need be), a lot of emphasis is placed on trying to get quality overseas batsmen and thereby trying to get a nice team balance. Uncapped (a lot so chose the better ones amongst them, may miss some out, in no particular order): Mandeep Singh very good opener, consistent run scorer Unmukt Chand didnt do well last year but potentially a good player Manish Pandey has done well in IPL in past and does decent every year Kedar Jadhav put in a few good late flourishes for us last year, has also been scoring very heavily in FC cricket, so seems an improved player overall Tirumalasetti Suman didnt play a lot last year but remember some good performances for DC in earlier seasons Rajat Bhatia economical with variations, tends to pick up odd wicket, useful lower order batsman Mayank Agarwal bit of a slogger but put in a few decent performances for RCB Dishant Yagnik wicketkeeper and can also finish innings off with some lower order hitting Manvinder Bisla wicketkeeper who did well for KKR in a few games Debabrata Das wicketkeeper who did well for KKR in a few games, helped finish some games off Iqbal Abdullah better than a lot of the capped players, very good left arm spinner, shouldve played more for KKR last season, nearly single handedly defended a low score vs SRH in a qualifying thriller, should really consider him if cant get one of the main spinners Sandeep Sharma very good for KXIP last year Bhargav Bhatt good spinner Rahul Shukla good bulky seamer with good pace, bowled well for RR last year Rishi Dhawan very similar to Rahul Shukla

Nadeem + Negi both bowled well for us in previous seasons Karn Sharma - he and Mishra were effective spin twins for SRH, strangled opposition in middle overs Pravin Tambe really good for RR in CLT20, highest wicket taker Hanuma Vihari slow but an accumulating batsman, can also bowl decent off spin Ryan ten Doeschate very good middle order batsman, can build an innings and hit big too, can also bowl a bit Ben Dunk, Gurinder Sandhu, Jason Behrendorff , Craig Simmons all did well in BBL, could be steals at their base prices Kevon Cooper good bowler who picks up wickets, can get hit around a bit, can also be a useful lower order hitter, potential steal Beuran Hendricks been doing very well in T20 domestically, young talent, could be a steal I feel the steals though should only be at a last resort if the capped player auction hasnt gone to plan.