Be it the IPL auction or on the field, many IPL teams are always in search of the IPL trophy. After a strong auction, some teams have built a very strong squad and are capable of winning the IPL trophy in the upcoming season.
Kolkata Knight Riders looked like a very strong team after completing all their auction bids with the huge amount of money at their disposal. Chennai Super Kings, on the other hand, reversed their trend and now have a bunch of youngsters in the team while they have ignored the experienced cricketers.
IPL teams in the race for the title in 2026
4. Delhi Capitals
Delhi Capitals looked like a very promising team during the IPL mini-auction; He took some strategic decisions and also tried his hands on some best players. Delhi team already looked strong with several batsmen like KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Abhishek Porel and Tristan Stubbs in the lineup.
This time he has included players like England opener Ben Duckett, experienced Protea finisher David Miller and Sri Lankan opener Pathum Nissanka. Prithvi Shaw has also returned to the Delhi Capitals team.
They also have a number of quality bowlers along with power-packed finishers in the eleven in the form of South African duo David Miller and Tristan Stubbs. They have an excellent bowling deck like captain Axar Patel, Vipraj Nigam, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc and T. Natarajan. Along with him, Auqib Nabi is also fully prepared to strengthen their bowling.
3.Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians squad that came out of the IPL mini-auction is almost unchanged, as Quinton de Kock was the only key player to be bought in the auction. However, they have made some promising selections in the form of trades, including Sherfane Rutherford and Shardul Thakur from GT and LSG.
They already have a strong batting line-up in the form of Rohit Sharma, Tilak Verma, Will Jacques, Suryakumar Yadav, Naman Dheer and Hardik Pandya. Corbin Bosch and Mitchell Santner are among the most reliable options as all-rounders.
Quinton de Kock strengthens the top order, and Sherfane Rutherford could be ideal as a lower-order finisher. This time, Mumbai Indians have backed their pace attack which includes Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar and Trent Boult along with spinners Mayank Markande and Allah Ghazanfar.
2.Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings already have a good group of players in the form of captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and great quality youngsters in the team. Dewald Brewis, Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel, Shivam Dubey and Noor Ahmed are among the names who have impressed in the past seasons.
Sanju Samson has also been added to the squad via trade; However, there are two uncapped players in the team, Karthik Sharma and Prashant Veer, on whom the Super Kings have invested heavily.
CSK’s bowling deck will be the only area where they lack some strength, as they will have Matt Henry, Khaleel Ahmed and Nathan Ellis leading the attack with Noor Ahmed as the lead spinner. Prashant Veer and Rahul Chahar could be the other spinners in the XI, making CSK one of the most balanced teams for the upcoming season.
1. Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders is one of the strongest teams after this mini-auction. He has ultimately filled the starting spots for New Zealand wicketkeepers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen. On the other hand, Tejashwi Singh is another good wicketkeeper in their deck.
They will also have the likes of Rachin Ravindra at the top of the order, while the rest of their batting order looks strong, especially with the arrival of all-rounder Cameron Green. The bowling deck is probably one of the best in the league with Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Akash Deep, Mathisha Pathirana and Mustafizur Rahman.
The three-time champions will be seen as one of the strongest sides on the sheets under their new management under Abhishek Nair and Shane Watson.
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