Kolkata Knight Riders

Purse - INR 64.30 Cr || Slots available - 13 || Overseas slots - 6

Current probable XII

Ajinkya Rahane, Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, WICKETKEEPER, MIDDLE ORDER BATTER, Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, PACER

Others in squad

Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy, Umran Malik

What do they need?

A like-for-like replacement for their legendary allrounder with whom they parted ways is the need of the hour. Cameron Green has been primed to become KKR's answer to the departure of Andre Russell and the franchise will back themselves to secure the allrounder given their purse. Apart from this, KKR's shopping spree will depend a lot on what they do with their opening combination.

Will Ajinkya Rahane and Sunil Narine continue to open despite the latter's dwindling numbers recently? If not, the three-time champions will be actively looking to buy openers and it shouldn't come as a surprise if one of them is a wicketkeeper. Remember, KKR let go of all three keepers from their 2025 roster. Since 2022, they have used eight different keepers and in an ideal world, they would finally want to nail down that important slot.

Whether the likes of Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Rovman Powell find a place in the XII will depend on KKR acquiring their primary targets. An overseas pacer will also be in demand with the franchise opting to release Anrich Nortje and Spencer Johnson. With budget likely to be available, KKR could set their sights on Matheesha Pathirana.

Potential targets - Cameron Green, Venkatesh Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan, Quinton de Kock, Jamie Smith, Jonny Bairstow, Kartik Sharma, Matheesha Pathirana, Matt Henry, Tushar Raheja

Rajasthan Royals

Purse - INR 16.05 Cr || Slots available - 9 || Overseas slots - 1

Current probable XII

Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sam Curran, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, WRIST SPINNER, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma

Others in squad

Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Nandre Burger, Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Charak

What do they need?

Acquiring Sam Curran, Donovan Ferreira and Ravindra Jadeja have bolstered Rajasthan Royals big time. The one glaring vacancy in their squad is the absence of a wrist spinner. With eight domestic spots to fill, RR's aim will be to recreate a potent local spin pair like the one they did in R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal between 2022-24. With Sanju Samson traded out, RR will also need an Indian wicketkeeper as a backup to Dhruv Jurel.

RR were the worst performing side with the ball in the middle overs and at the death as well last season. If the Royals can add capable domestic batters to their squad in this auction, which will be another priority, they do have the flexibility to leave out one among Hetmyer and Ferreira for an overseas seamer to bolster the pace attack.

Potential targets - Ravi Bishnoi, Rahul Chahar, Vignesh Puthur, Yash Raj Punja, Sarfaraz Khan, Kartik Sharma, Tushar Raheja, Salman Nizar

Lucknow Super Giants

Purse - INR 22.95 Cr || Slots available - 6 || Overseas slots - 4

Current probable XII

Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), MIDDLE ORDER BATTER, Ayush Badoni, ALLROUNDER, Abdul Samad, Avesh Khan, Mohammed Shami, Mayank Yadav, Digvesh Rathi

Others in squad

Akash Singh, Arjun Tendulkar, Arshin Kulkarni, Himmat Singh, M Siddharth, Matthew Breetzke, Mohsin Khan, Prince Yadav, Shahbaz Ahmed

What do they need?

If there's one area where there is abundance of talent in the LSG squad, it's the Indian pace bowling stocks that has also been bolstered by the addition of Mohammed Shami now before the new season. Arjun Tendulkar is another new name who could provide cover for Mohsin Khan. Three overseas slots are pretty much locked for LSG going by last season's performances but they will now have to take a call on the fourth one. LSG primarily need a middle order batter and an allrounder in their XII and that's where their focus will lie predominantly in the auction table.

While Green appears to be out of their sights, if LSG can find another overseas allrounder, then the other target will switch towards domestic batters. The allrounder slot is vital considering none of their bowlers bat. The impressive Digvesh Rathi is the only wrist spinner present in the squad so that's another area LSG might look to recruit after parting ways with Bishnoi. With four overseas slots available, one pacer could be incoming.

Potential targets - Jason Holder, Prashant Veer, Salman Nizar, Sunny Sandhu, Vignesh Puthur, Alzarri Joseph, Anrich Nortje, Deepak Hooda, Wiaan Mulder, Abhinav Manohar

Gujarat Titans

Purse - INR 12.90 Cr || Slots available - 5 || Overseas slots - 4

Current probable XII

Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Sai Kishore, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Others in squad

Anuj Rawat, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Kumar Kushagra, Manav Suthar, Arshad Khan, Nishant Sindhu

What do they need?

This is one of the most settled squads already in the IPL. No wonder four out of the five available slots for the Titans are overseas options. Even though the Titans have the option of an in-form Kumar Kushagra as a backup for Jos Buttler, GT might still prefer to add an overseas wicketkeeper to their roster. Kusal Mendis came in last time and he could be in the mix again.

Having let go of Sherfane Rutherford, another priority in the auction could be the addition of an overseas middle order option to add to Glenn Phillips. A reunion with David Miller cannot be ruled out given the success he had with GT in the past. Titans did let go of Gerald Coetzee so an able backup for Kagiso Rabada is expected as well.

Potential targets - David Miller, Liam Livingstone, Kusal Mendis, Jonny Bairstow, Matt Henry, Anrich Nortje, Jacob Duffy, Adam Milne

Mumbai Indians

Purse - INR 2.75 Cr || Slots available - 5 || Overseas slots - 1

Current probable XII

Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Tilak Varma, Will Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashwani Kumar

Others in squad

Sherfane Rutherford, AM Ghazanfar, Corbin Bosch, Mayank Markande, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Robin Minz, Shardul Thakur

What do they need?

Mumbai Indians pretty much have all bases covered. It reflects in their budget available for this auction as they enter with the least available purse. With only a maximum of five slots left to be filled, MI's two priorities will be securing a backup for Ryan Rickelton and adding one domestic middle order batter. Rickelton's poor form in recent times will force them to pick up a backup but whether they manage to secure their first choice remains to be seen.

Potential targets - Jonny Bairstow, Kusal Mendis, Jamie Smith, Tim Seifert