My 2 cents on the teams that have been formed so far: I feel Hyderabad, Delhi and to an extent, Punjab had a successful auction here. These sides look better, on paper. I have attempted to analyze the other teams here:
1. CSK: The side composition and formulation might seem like the one that would work during the early years of the IPL. The team has a lot of players who bide their time and play. They lack a proper hard hitter and there seems to be backup to MSD. They have picked up a few people on the way- but as with the overall CSK strategy- they will be mere passengers during the 3 year journey.
2. Delhi: Hard hitters balanced with the calm of KLR and Faf. This could be a side to watch out for, if they get their tactics right. They have good Indian bowlers+ Starc. The only weak link could be a well known right handed spinner, as Kuldeep and Axar could get too similar.
3. Gujarat: They had retained their core and built around it. The side is heavy on all-rounders and that shows. While, they have stocked up the India pace battery- Siraj and Prasidh havent really set the stage on fire in the shortest format of the game. They have a tendency to go for plenty and would probably need the batting to back them up continuously.
4. Lucknow: Take Pant out of the equation. The rest seems to be made up of dibbly dobblies and 1 IPL wonders. Pooran, Miller, Marsh and Pant together can either go boom or bust!
5. KKR: The weirdest auction. Well, its got to do with KKR and mega auctions. Splurging 23Cr the other Iyer makes no sense whatsoever. Their mistakes started during the retention phase- too much faith in Narine and Russell. KKR seems to have taken on players who are at the end of the playing careers- carrying on with the retained duo, they also reposed faith in Rahane (is he their captaincy choice?), Moeen and Pandey. Wooden Spoon loading!
6. Mumbai: They retained what was possibly the strongest core.Boult, Santner and Rickelton seem, on paper to be the fillers for the players they have missed out. Don't think the fans would be too unhappy here seeing as their retained core+Dhir+Boult will probably play all games.
7. Punjab: The Ponting influence was visible all over the auction. They got their captain a decent leggie, and a handful of Aussies. On paper, they seem to have covered all bases. It will be up to the Ponting-Iyer duo to recreate the magic seen previously at Delhi.
8. Rajasthan: Along with MI, RR had retained the best possible core. However, unlike MI, they failed in building a proper squad around the core. I dont understand the fascination with Sri Lankan spinners here- possibly a Sangakarra driven acquisition. Also, lack of big name Indian spinners does baffle me- RR have traditionally put thier faith into untested personnel and that has largely worked, but this time round, seems like an aberration.
9. RCB: Kohli, Padikkal to open. This will be followed by a barrage of hard hitters- which means they might fail in crunch scenarios. Note, they lack the bowling firepower they previously had.. Bhuvi is there, but how much and how many times will he carry the rest of the inexperienced bowling attack?
10. Hyderabad: I would put my money on HYD winning 2/3 titles from hereon. Cummins has been leading an exceptional core of players and that is bound to continue unless they have a Warner-esque fallout. Addition of Shami, Patel, Chahar and Undakat(he does well in HYD) works for them.
