Who Will Win IPL 2021: Squads, Odds, and Predictions

who will win ipl

As per the latest available information, IPL 2021 is about to start from April 11th (subject to change). Eight teams spread across India’s major cities will vie for the crown of the most lucrative T20I league in the world. Because of the unexpected nature of the format and a tendency to spring surprising results, it’s pretty tough to answer a question as simple as “Who will Win IPL 2021?”. Since the IPL final is a single game, and not a best of seven format like the NBA Finals, any team can emerge victorious on a given day. Things such as weather, light, dew and toss can make a big difference in the result of a given match. However, a team with a formidable lineup with consistently performing players can be expected to do well throughout the tournament and eventually end up on top. While all of the teams can be expected to put up a good fight, only one team can emerge victorious in the end. However, before we start talking about what will happen in the tournament, we will go through the things that have happened leading up the tournament. We will discuss the schedule, the mini auction and then we will look at the teams, their lineups and their expectations in the tournament. Remember, our prediction on “Who will win IPL” is just going to be a prediction. There is no guarantee if that team will actually end up winning the tournament as anything can happen in the world of sports. However, the teams on top of our list are most likely to have a strong showing in IPL 2021. Let’s get started.

Who Will Win IPL 2021: All You Need to Know

IPL 2021 Schedule And Date

The IPL 2021 schedule and the IPL 2021 date is in a tentative format as of now. It’s expected to start on April 11th but the confirmed start date will only be announced after the ongoing England-India test series is concluded (March 8th). However, the BCCI has stayed silent on it and the actual start date is still being speculated. The tournament is expected to last the usual two months and the final will be held June 06th (tentative). England’s tour of India will come to an end with the third and final ODI match at Pune on March 28th. All players playing in the IPL will then enter the IPL before the 14th edition of the world’s richest cricket league kicks off.

What happened in the IPL 2021 auction?

The IPL 2021 auction was held in Chennai on February 18th. Compared to previous auctions, this was more of a “mini-auction”. 1114 players (Indian and International) registered for the auction and the BCCI shortlisted 292 players for the auction. On february 18th, 130 out of those 292 names were called. Only 57 players were eventually sold and 73 remained unsold.

Who was the most expensive player of the IPL 2021 auction?

Chris Morris became the most expensive player of the IPL 2021 auction when he was bought by the Rajasthan Royals for a staggering some of ₹16.25 crores. The South African all rounder also became the most expensive IPL player in the process. The most expensive Indian player in the auction was Shahrukh Khan who was bought by the Punjab Kings (formerly known as Kings XI Punjab) for ₹5.25 crores.

Here’s the list of players sold during the IPL 2021 auction

  • Steve Smith – Delhi Capitals – ₹2.2 Crore
  • Glenn Maxwell – Royal Challengers Bangalore – ₹14.25 crore
  • Shakib Al Hasan – Kolkata Knight Riders – ₹3.2 Crore
  • Moeen Ali – Chennai Super Kings – ₹7 crore
  • Shivam Dube – Rajasthan Royals – ₹4.4 crore
  • Chris Morris – Rajasthan Royals – ₹16.25 crore
  • Dawid Malan – Punjab Kings – ₹1.5 crore
  • Mustafizur Rahman – Rajasthan Royals – ₹1 crore
  • Adam Milne – Mumbai Indians – ₹3.2 crore
  • Nathan Coulter-Nile – Mumbai Indians – ₹5 crore
  • Jhye Richardson – Punjab Kings – ₹14 crore
  • Umesh Yadav – Delhi Capitals – ₹1 cr
  • Piyush Chawla – Mumbai Indians – ₹2.4 crore
  • Sachin Baby – Royal Challengers Bangalore – ₹20 lakh
  • Rajat Patidar – Royal Challengers Bangalore – ₹20 lakh
  • Ripal Patel – Delhi Capitals – ₹20 lakh
  • Shahrukh Khan – Punjab Kings – ₹5.25 crore
  • K Gowtham – Chennai Super Kings – ₹9.25 crore
  • Vishnu Vinod – Delhi Capitals – ₹20 lakh
  • Sheldon Jackson – Kolkata Knight Riders – ₹20 lakh
  • Mohammed Azharuddeen – Royal Challengers Bangalore – ₹20 lakh
  • Lukman Meriwala – Delhi Capitals – ₹20 lakh
  • Chetan Sakariya – Rajasthan Royals – ₹1.2 crore
  • Riley Meredith – Punjab Kings – ₹8 crore
  • M Siddharth – Delhi Capitals – ₹20 lakh
  • Jagadeesha Suchith – Sunrisers Hyderabad – ₹30 lakh
  • KC Cariappa – Rajasthan Royals – ₹20 lakh
  • Cheteshwar Pujara – Chennai Super Kings – ₹50 lakh
  • Kyle Jamieson – Royal Challengers Bangalore – ₹15 crore
  • Tom Curran – Delhi Capitals – ₹5.25 crore
  • Moises Henriques – Punjab Kings – ₹4.2 crore
  • Utkarsh Singh – Punjab Kings – ₹20 lakh
  • Jalaj Saxena – Punjab Kings – ₹30 lakh
  • Vaibhav Arora – Kolkata Knight Riders – ₹20 lakh
  • Fabian Allen – Punjab Kings – ₹75 lakh
  • Daniel Christian – Royal Challengers Bangalore – ₹4.8 crore
  • Liam Livingstone – Rajasthan Royals – ₹75 lakh
  • Suyash Prabhudessai – Royal Challengers Bangalore – ₹20 lakh
  • KS Bharat – Royal Challengers Bangalore – ₹20 lakh
  • M Harisankar Reddy – Chennai Super Kings – ₹20 lakh
  • Kuldip Yadav – Rajasthan Royals – ₹20 lakh
  • James Neesham – Mumbai Indians – ₹50 lakh
  • Yudhvir Charak – Mumbai Indians – ₹20 lakh
  • K Bhagath Varma – Chennai Super Kings – ₹20 lakh
  • Marco Jansen – Mumbai Indians – ₹20 lakh
  • Saurabh Kumar – Punjab Kings – ₹20 lakh
  • Karun Nair – Kolkata Knight Riders – ₹50 lakh
  • Kedar Jadhav – Sunrisers Hyderabad – ₹2 crore
  • Sam Billings – Delhi Capitals – ₹2 crore
  • Mujeeb Ur Rahman – Sunrisers Hyderabad – ₹1.5 crore
  • Harbhajan Singh – Kolkata Knight Riders – ₹2 crore
  • C Hari Nishanth – Chennai Super Kings – ₹20 lakh
  • Ben Cutting – Kolkata Knight Riders – ₹75 lakh
  • Venkatesh Iyer – Kolkata Knight Riders – ₹20 lakh
  • Pawan Negi – Kolkata Knight Riders – ₹50 lakh
  • Akash Singh – Rajasthan Royals – ₹20 lakh
  • Arjun Tendulkar – Mumbai Indians – ₹20 lakh

Here’s a list of the unsold players in the IPL 2021 auction

  • Alex Hales (Base price ₹ 1.50 crore)
  • Jason Roy (Base price ₹ 2 crore)
  • Evin Lewis (Base price ₹ 1 crore)
  • Aaron Finch (Base price ₹ 1 crore)
  • Hanuma Vihari (Base price ₹ 1 crore)
  • Glenn Phillips (Base price 50 lac)
  • Alex Carey (Base price 1.50 crore)
  • Kusal Perera (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Sheldon Cottrell (Base price ₹ 1 crore)
  • Adil Rashid (Base price ₹ 1.50 crore)
  • Rahul Sharma (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Ish Sodhi (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Qais Ahmad (Base price 50 lac)
  • Himanshu Rana (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Gahlaut Singh (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Atit Sheth (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Himmat Singh (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Vishnu Solanki (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Ayush Badoni (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Vivek Singh (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Avi Barot (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Kedar Devdhar (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Ankit Rajpoot (Base price ₹ 30 lac)
  • Mujtaba Yousuf (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Kuldeep Sen (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Tushar Deshpande (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Karanveer Singh (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Sandeep Lamichhane (Base price ₹ 40 lac)
  • Sudhesan Midhun (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Tejas Baroka (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Rovman Powell (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Shaun Marsh (Base price ₹ 1.50 crore)
  • Corey Anderson (Base price ₹ 75 lac)
  • Devon Conway (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Darren Bravo (Base price ₹ 75 lac)
  • Rassie van der Dussen (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Martin Guptill (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Gurkeerat Singh (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Marnus Labuschagne (Base price ₹ 1 crore)
  • Varun Aaron (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Oshane Thomas (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Mohit Sharma (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Billy Stanlake (Base price ₹ 1 crore)
  • Mitchell McClenaghan (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Jason Behrendorff (Base price ₹ 1 crore)
  • Naveen Ul Haq (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Karan Sharma (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • KL Shrijith (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Ben Dwarshuis (Base price ₹ 30 lac)
  • G Periyasamy (Base price ₹ 30 lac)
  • Thisara Perera (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Ben McDermott (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Matthew Wade (Base price ₹ 1 crore)
  • Sean Abbott (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Siddhesh Lad (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Tajinder Singh (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Prerak Mankad (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Josh Inglis (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Simarjeet Singh (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Scott Kuggeleijn (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Wayne Parnell (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Reece Topley (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Chris Green (Base price ₹ 30 lac)
  • Isuru Udana (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • George Linde (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Chaitanya Bishnoi (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Ajay Dev Goud (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Jack Wildermuth (Base price ₹ 50 lac)
  • Harsh Tyagi (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Gerald Coetzee (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Tim David (Base price ₹ 20 lac)
  • Pratyush Singh (Base price ₹ 20 lac)

Who will win IPL 2021: Prediction for each team

Mumbai Indians – Odds: 10/3

Retained players ahead of the IPL 2021 auction: Rohit Sharma, Quinton De Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Chris Lynn, Amolpreet Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Aditya Tare, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan.

Players bought in the IPL 2021 auction: Adam Milne, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, James Neesham, Yudhvir Singh, Marco Jansen, Arjun Tendulkar.

Complete squad after the IPL 2021 auction: Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton De Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Chris Lynn, Amolpreet Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Aditya Tare, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan, Adam Milne, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, James Neesham, Yudhvir Singh, Marco Jansen, Arjun Tendulkar.

As far as the IPL is concerned, we can’t really start any edition without considering the Mumbai Indians as one of the favourites. The defending champions have an extremely formidable lineup and they are a good enough team to overcome a slow start as well. This team has all its bases covered in most of the departments barring the spin department.

The Mumbai Indians are the most successful team in IPL history and they have won the title a record five times. The experience from winning so many titles is bound to be invaluable. 

Nothing is different this year too, as Mumbai Indians haven’t made any drastic changes in the squad this year. Each and every player in this team is a match-winner. With so many great players on the squad, the team doesn’t necessarily need to depend on the brilliance of just one player. If we are nitpicking, the lack of a top quality off spinner might be a slight drawback on Indian pitches. However, that’s a very small problem among the embarrassment of riches that the Mumbai Indians have in every other position. The defending champions will most likely complete a successful title defence during IPL 2021.

Delhi Capitals – Odds: 11/2

Retained players ahead of the IPL 2021 auction: Shreyas Iyer (c), Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Praveen Dubey, Lalit Yadav, Chris Woakes.

Traded: Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel to Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Players bought in the IPL 2021 auction: Steve Smith, Umesh Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod, Lukman Meriwala, M Siddharth, Tom Curran, Sam Billings.

Complete squad after the IPL 2021 auction: Shreyas Iyer (c), Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Praveen Dubey, Lalit Yadav, Chris Woakes, Steve Smith, Umesh Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vishnu Vinod, Lukman Meriwala, M Siddharth, Tom Curran, Sam Billings.

The Delhi Capitals came up just short of winning it all last season. They picked up steam near the end of the tournament and reached the finals where they ended up losing to the Mumbai Indians. From the time when Shreyas Iyer was handed the captaincy of the team, DC had developed together as a young energetic side. Historically speaking, the Delhi Capitals (who started in the IPL as the Delhi Daredevils) were one of the worst performing teams in the IPL. However, the team bounced back after the 2018 edition of the IPL and finished in the top four for two straight seasons, topping it off with their maiden final appearance in 2020. 

The biggest strength of DC is the strong Indian core group of players they possess. The majority of Indian players namely Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Rishab Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ishant Sharma are long standing members of the Indian national team. For an IPL franchise to have so many India star players, it often becomes a luxury to rest a few of these players in order to accommodate the foreign players. DC has the largest number Indian players of any IPL team.

Due to this strong Indian batting line-up, it gives them the freedom to play two overseas fast-bowlers – Andrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada. These two express pace bowlers can terrorize batsmen with their fiery pace. Kagiso Rabada was the leading wicket-taker of the IPL 2020 season as he picked up 30 wickets. Anrich Nortje wasn’t far behind either, scalping 22 wickets in the tournament.   

The top order’s inconsistency is a problem that the DC squad will need to fix. Last season we saw Delhi Capitals lose early 2 or 3 wickets which reduced the scoring-rate by the middle order batsmen. This resulted in a struggle with putting up massive totals on the scoreboard. The Delhi Capitals will most likely be the biggest obstacle in the way of the Mumbai Indians defending their title.

Royal Challengers Bangalore – Odds: 11/2

Retained players ahead of the IPL 2021 auction: Virat Kohli (c), AB De Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Josh Philippe, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pavan Deshpande, Daniel Sams, Harshal Patel.

Players bought in the IPL 2021 auction: Kyle Jamieson, Glenn Maxwell, Sachin Baby, Rajat Patidar, Daniel Christian, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Suyash Prabhudessai, KS Bharat.

Complete squad after the IPL 2021 auction: Virat Kohli (c), AB De Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Josh Philippe, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pavan Deshpande, Daniel Sams, Harshal Patel, Kyle Jamieson, Glenn Maxwell, Sachin Baby, Rajat Patidar, Daniel Christian, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Suyash Prabhudessai, KS Bharat.

Royal Challengers Bangalore is a crowd favourite team and has been one of the strong performers in the history of the IPL. The Virat Kohli led team was knocked out at the playoff stage by the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The team is a little top heavy and outside of a few stars, doesn’t have a lot of high profile names. We expect the team to do well but eventually fall short at the end again. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad – Odds: 6

Retained players ahead of the IPL 2021 auction: David Warner (c), Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh, Jonny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Mitchell Marsh, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddharth Kaul, Basil Thampi, Shahbaz Nadeem.

Players bought in the IPL 2021 auction: Kedar Jadhav, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jagadeesha Suchith.

Complete squad after the IPL 2021 auction: David Warner (c), Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh, Jonny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Mitchell Marsh, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Siddharth Kaul, Basil Thampi, Shahbaz Nadeem, Kedar Jadhav, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jagadeesha Suchith.

Historically, Sunrisers Hyderabad have been considered as one of the best bowling sides of the IPL. It is a known fact that ‘with batsmen, you can win matches, but bowlers are the ones who win you tournaments’. SRH has taken that saying to heart and built a team around its bowlers. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has been the leader of the bowlers as he has delivered consistently for SRH over the years.

However, in the last season, after losing Bhuvaneshwar Kumar due to injury, they had changed their strategy to strengthen their batting. They relied on their key spinner Rashid Khan, who was considered the only threat for the opposition. T Natarajan and experienced campaigner Sandeep Sharma actually bowled very well during IPL 2020 season and kept taking wickets at regular intervals. 

T Natarajan was one the finds of the IPL 2020 as he grabbed 16 wickets and proved to be an absolute terror in the death with his toe crushing yorkers. After this great performance, he earned his maiden call for international cricket. He eventually went on to represent India in all three formats. He is expected to be one of the star bowlers of this year’s edition and be in the running for the Purple cap. 

Their inexperienced middle-order was the only weak link that had let them down in the previous season. They have strong quality overseas top-order batsmen like Kane Williamson, David Warner, and Jonny Bairstow. However, putting all of them in the squad will lead to a weakening of the middle order. In order to fix this issue, the team had to drop Jonny Bairstow and push Kane Willamson to number 4 to provide stability in the middle-order.  

Kolkata Knight Riders – Odds: 6

Retained players ahead of the IPL 2021 auction: Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine.

Players bought in the IPL 2021 auction: Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Harbhajan Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Karun Nair, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer, Pawan Negi.

Complete squad after the IPL 2021 auction: Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Harbhajan Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Karun Nair, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer, Pawan Negi.

Kolkata Knight Riders started well in the IPL and won two titles pretty quickly. However, they have cooled off in recent years and haven’t really performed well. During the last season, they had a painful journey. They lost out on the playoffs. But KKR might be a strong team this year.

They did make a couple of changes in their team structure. Look towards captain Eoin Morgan and Shubman Gill for some fireworks this season.

Chennai Super Kings – Odds: 7

Retained players ahead of the IPL 2021 auction: MS Dhoni (c), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Sam Curran, Faf Du Plessis, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Narayanan Jagadeesan, Lungi Ngidi, Shardul Thakur, Ambati Rayudu, R Sai Kishore, Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, KM Asif.

Players bought in the IPL 2021 auction: Krishnappa Gowtham, Moeen Ali, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harishankar Reddy, Bhagath Verma, C Hari Nishanth.

Complete squad after the IPL 2021 auction: MS Dhoni (c), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Sam Curran, Faf Du Plessis, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Narayanan Jagadeesan, Lungi Ngidi, Shardul Thakur, Ambati Rayudu, R Sai Kishore, Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, KM Asif, Krishnappa Gowtham, Moeen Ali, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harishankar Reddy, Bhagath Verma, C Hari Nishanth.

Three time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings are always expected to perform well in the tournament. 

Although Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of the CSK, has retired from all forms of cricket, he is still expected to play in the 2021 edition of the IPL. It will be interesting to see how the legendary cricketer will play. The team is pretty strong and is expected to perform well in the tournament. However, it’s not expected to go all the way.

Punjab Kings (formerly known as Kings XI Punjab) – Odds: 9.00

Retained players ahead of the IPL 2021 auction: KL Rahul (c), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Prabhsimran Singh, Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, Darshan Nalkande, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel.

Players bought in the IPL 2021 auction: Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Dawid Malan, Shahrukh Khan, Moises Henriques, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Saurabh Kumar, Fabian Allen.

Complete squad in the IPL 2021 auction: KL Rahul (c), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Prabhsimran Singh, Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, Darshan Nalkande, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Dawid Malan, Shahrukh Khan, Moises Henriques, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Saurabh Kumar, Fabian Allen.

Punjab Kings (formerly known as Kings XI Punjab) is one of the unfortunate names that failed to make a mark throughout IPL history. The team has never won an IPL title, nor were they considered a favourite among bookies prior to any edition of the IPL. Hence, usually, people do not really have high hopes in them.

Although, KL Rahul from the team happens to be the leader in runs during the last season. But still, Punjab Kings will continue to struggle with their inability to take wickets.

Rajasthan Royals – Odds: 9.00

Retained players ahead of the IPL 2021 auction: Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Kartik Tyagi, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, David Miller, Manan Vohra.

Traded: Robin Uthappa to Chennai Super Kings.

Players bought in the IPL 2021 auction: Chris Morris, Shivam Dube, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya, KC Cariappa, Liam Livingstone, Kuldip Yadav, Akash Singh.

Complete squad after the IPL 2021 auction: Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Kartik Tyagi, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, David Miller, Manan Vohra Chris Morris, Shivam Dube, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya, KC Cariappa, Liam Livingstone, Kuldip Yadav, Akash Singh.

Rajasthan Royals went all out during the IPL 2021 mini auction and picked up South African Chris Morris for a whopping amount of ₹ 16.25 crores. The team that won the first ever edition of the IPL also picked up players like Liam Livingstone, Mustafizur Rahman, Shivam Dube, and many others. However, despite all the heavy spending, the Rajasthan Royals might still miss out on making the playoffs this season as well.

One of the major problems encountered by the Royals last year was the fact that Jofra Archer was left to his own devices when bowling at the death. While the English pacer was a total beast, there was no support at the other end. The team has tried to fix this issue in the auction but nothing can be said for certain until the tournament actually plays out. 

IPL 2021: FAQs

Will IPL 2021 happen?

Yes, despite the COVID crisis, IPL 2021 will happen.. And unlike IPL 2020, which took place in a bubble in the UAE, IPL 2021 will take place in India. It is reported that the tournament will start from the second week of April and will last till the first week of June.

What is the date of IPL 2021?

Although the IPL 2021 date hasn’t been released by the BCCI, speculations based on certain “leaks” have hinted at April 11th being the date for the start of the tournament. The final is expected to take place on June 6th.

Is MS Dhoni playing IPL 2021?

Yes, MS Dhoni will be playing in IPL 2021. Once again, he will represent Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2021. Even though he has announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket, he will be playing in the IPL.

Who is known as the king of IPL?

Mahendra Singh Dhoni or MS Dhoni is widely regarded as the king of IPL. Under his leadership, Chennai Super Kings have won three IPL titles so far and have also made it to the playoffs in the 9 out of 10 seasons that they have been a part of in the IPL until now. He is also the player with the highest career earnings in the IPL. 

Did the IPL 2021 have a mega auction?

No, IPL 2021 did not witness a mega auction. It had a mini auction in Chennai on February 18th. The 2022 edition of the IPL will feature a mega auction and two new teams will be introduced in next year’s edition.

Who will win IPL 2021?

Based on every piece of info and data available, defending champions Mumbai Indians are expected to repeat as champions of the Indian Premier League with the Delhi Capitals being their biggest challengers.

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