10. Gujarat Titans

Squad: Rashid Khan, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Jos Buttler, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Sherfane Rutherford, Gerald Coetzee, Glenn Phillips, Sai Kishore, Mahipal Lomror, Karim Janat, Gurnoor Brar, Arshad Khan, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Kumar Kushagra, Nishant Sindhu, Manav Suthar, Anuj Rawat, Kulwant Khejroliya

GT have a deep batting line-up, but their potential top three – Gill, Buttler, Sai Sudharsan – are all batters who like to take the innings deep. A lot will depend on the middle order, which no longer has David Miller. Three of their star bowlers – Siraj, Rabada, Prasidh – have a tendency to go for runs (though they can break open games with their strikes).

9. Rajasthan Royals

Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Sandeep Sharma, Jofra Archer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Nitish Rana, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kwena Maphaka, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Akash Madhwal, Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Singh, Kumar Kartikeya, Kunal Rathore, Ashok Sharma.

Despite Hetmyer being the only overseas cricketer, RR’s batting bears an explosive look. They were without quality T20 all-rounders in the previous cycle, a gap Hasaranga will have to fill, while Rana and Riyan will probably bowl more than they have. The lack of a senior Indian bowler (other than the uncapped-zoned Sandeep) can be a concern.

8. Delhi Capitals

Squad: Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, KL Rahul, Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mukesh Kumar, Harry Brook, Ashutosh Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Faf du Plessis, Sameer Rizvi, Dushmantha Chameera, Donavan Ferreira, Vipraj Nigam, Manvanth Kumar, Darshan Nalkande, Ajay Mandal, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari.

DC have a bowling attack (Mohit, Mukesh, Natarajan, Axar, Kuldeep) that will enable them to pick all four of Fraser-McGurk, Stubbs, Brook, and du Plessis, but they will almost certainly want to include Starc as often as possible as well. That is where the Indian batters – Rahul, Ashutosh, Porel, Rizvi – will need to step up.

7. Punjab Kings

Squad: Shashank Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Nehal Wadhera, Glenn Maxwell, Harnoor Singh, Harpreet Brar, Priyansh Arya, Josh Inglis, Kuldeep Sen, Azmatullah Omarzai, Lockie Ferguson, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Thakur, Aaron Hardie, Vishnu Vinod, Xavier Bartlett, Suryansh Shedge, Pyla Avinash, Musheer Khan, Praveen Dubey.

Punjab’s rebooted look, complete with a new coach (Ricky Ponting) and captain (almost certainly Shreyas) looks formidable. In Arshdeep, Chahal, Brar, Sen, and Vyshak, they have five Indian bowlers. If they pick four or even three of them, they can have all four of Maxwell, Stoinis, Omarzai, and Jansen, all of whom bowl as well. Alternately, they can go with one of Ferguson and Inglis. Their Indian batters – Shreyas, Shashank, Prabhsimran, Wadhera, and the exciting Arya – provide variety as well.

6. Lucknow Super Giants

Squad: Nicholas Pooran, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Ayush Badoni, Mohsin Khan, Rishabh Pant, Avesh Khan, David Miller, Shahbaz Ahmed, Abdul Samad, Akash Deep, Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Matthew Breetzke, Shamar Joseph, M Siddharth, Himmat Singh, Arshin Kulkarni, Digvesh Singh, Prince Yadav, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Akash Singh, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Aryan Juyal.

In Mayank, Badoni, Mohsin, Avesh, Akash Deep, and Siddharth, backed by Shahbaz, LSG have one of the strongest attacks. Going with with this all-Indian set will enable LSG to pick an explosive batting line-up, consisting of Pooran, Miller, Marsh, and Markram, who could bat around Pant.

5. Sunrisers Hyderabad

Squad: Heinrich Klaasen, Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Shami, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Abhinav Manohar, Adam Zampa, Simarjeet Singh, Eshan Malinga, Brydon Carse, Sachin Baby, Kamindu Mendis, Zeeshan Ansari, Aniket Verma, Atharva Taide.

SRH have a curious overseas contingent, consisting of three of their stars from 2024, Zampa, and three who are uncapped in the IPL. In Reddy, Shami, Unadkat, and Harshal, they have their usual Indian-dependent pace attack. However, as with 2024, their batting will be in focus more than their bowling: they have got Kishan and Manohar to back an already-explosive unit.

4. Kolkata Knight Riders

Squad: Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Anrich Nortje, Quinton de Kock, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Spencer Johnson, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Moeen Ali, Vaibhav Arora, Rovman Powell, Ajinkya Rahane, Umran Malik, Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy, Luvnith Sisodia, Mayank Markande.

There is no Salt or Starc, but KKR have de Kock and Nortje (with Gurbaz and Johnson as backup), so they have virtually the same outfit as the one that won in 2024. Expect Raghuvanshi to start, while Ramandeep and Anukul are excellent Impact Player options. With Shreyas (captain), Rana (stand-in captain), and Gautam Gambhir (mentor) all gone, it will be interesting to see how the team shapes up under a new management. Also, will Venkatesh, now of INR 23.5 crore fame, lead?

3. Mumbai Indians

Squad: Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar, Naman Dhir, Will Jacks, Allah Ghazanfar, Mitchell Santner, Ryan Rickelton, Reece Topley, Robin Minz, Karn Sharma, Bevon Jacobs, Ashwani Kumar, Krishnan Shrijith, Arjun Tendulkar, Lizaad Williams, Vignesh Puthur.

Mumbai Indians retained their Indian superstars and Dhir. From the auction, they got Deepak Chahar and Karn, experienced in the league. Of their overseas cricketers, Boult and Santner are former IPL champions, Jacks is a sought-after T20 power-hitter. If they had another death-over power-hitter, MI would probably have become one of the strongest outfits, at least on paper.

2. Chennai Super Kings

Squad: Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Matheesha Pathirana, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni, Noor Ahmad, R Ashwin, Devon Conway, Khaleel Ahmed, Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Anshul Kamboj, Sam Curran, Gurjapneet Singh, Nathan Ellis, Deepak Hooda, Jamie Overton, Vijay Shankar, Vansh Bedi, Shreyas Gopal, C Andre Siddarth, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Shaik Rasheed, Mukesh Choudhary, Kamlesh Nagarkoti

As often, CSK came away from the IPL 2025 auction with one of the strongest teams in the tournament. A cohort of spinners – Jadeja, Ashwin, Noor , backed by Gopal – are indicative of the potential conditions at Chepauk. It is to be seen whether they make use of Overton’s power-hitting abilities, but they already boast of all-rounders like Curran, Vijay Shankar, and Hooda, a floating hitter like Tripathi, and a solid pace unit in Pathirana, Khaleel, Mukesh Choudhary, and Kamboj.

1. Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Squad: Virat Kohli, Rajit Patidar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Tim David, Liam Livingstone, Rasikh Salam, Krunal Pandya, Suyash Sharma, Jacob Bethell, Devdutt Padikkal, Nuwan Thushara, Lungi Ngidi, Romario Shepherd, Swapnil Singh, Swastik Chikara, Manoj Bhandage, Abhinandan Singh, Lungi Ngidi, Mohit Rathee

RCB let Jacks, Maxwell, and du Plessis go, but they got Salt, Livingstone, and David to make up for that. In Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar they have arguably the most potent new-ball pair of them all (they even have Dayal as back-up!), while Jitesh, Krunal, Bethell, and Shepherd make an explosive middle-order quartet, all of whom perform a second role. All in all, one of the most dangerous-looking sides.

Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.