Eight of the ten franchises acquired acquired the maximum possible count of 25 cricketers each at the IPL 2024 auction, while Kolkata Knight Riders (23) and Rajasthan Royals (22) did not. All of them, however, reached the limit of eight overseas players.

Assuming that the Impact Player will be assigned depending on the toss, here are the probable starting XIIs for every side. The overseas cricketers are underlined.

Chennai Super Kings

One of the best-rounded sides at the auction, defending champions Chennai will start IPL 2024 as one of the favourites. However, they have been plagued by injuries ahead of the season. There is uncertainty over how many matches MS Dhoni will play, Devon Conway is ruled out of almost the entire season. Matheesha Pathirana and Shivam Dube are also injured.

Starting XII: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Mustafizur Rahman, Mukesh Choudhary.

Delhi Capitals

Delhi have the big hitters, but some of their bowlers do not have batting credentials, which may hurt them. Their lower middle-order might again be a cause for concern.

Starting XII: David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Kumar Kushagra (wk if Pant is not ready), Tristan Stubbs, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed.

Gujarat Titans

Yet another team with an excellent squad, Gujarat managed to get all boxes checked, with backup in every department. Wicketkeeping can be an issue for them as Wriddhiman Saha is ageing and his backup, Robin Minz, is all but ruled out of the season.

Starting XII: Shubman Gill (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Sai Sudharsan, David Miller, Vijay Shankar, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Umesh Yadav, Spencer Johnson, Mohit Sharma.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata seem set to return to spin – it had, after all, helped them win two titles a decade ago – without compromising on pace depth. Their curious composition, however, may force them to play KS Bharat (strike rate: 111) ahead of Rahmanullah Gurbaz or Phil Salt, which may hold up scoring. If they do not, they will struggle to pick overseas stars like Gurbaz/Salt, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, or Sherfane Rutherford.

Starting XII: Phil Salt (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, Suyash Sharma.

Lucknow Super Giants

Lucknow’s strategies may depend on whether KL Rahul continues to open batting or drops down the order to find a place in the middle order of the national side. Devdutt Padikkal’s selection may depend on that.

Starting XII: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Shivam Mavi, Ayush Badoni, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan.

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai would probably have wanted to swap one of their overseas fast bowlers for an overseas spinner, though they do have Mohammad Nabi now. Their squad consists of a strong Indian contingent – they may start with eight of them – including four men who have led India in the second half of 2023; and barring spin, they look well-stocked in every department. However, Suryakumar Yadav’s injury means they will have to find a backup batter for the initial few games at least.

Starting XII: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Romario Shepherd, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jasprit Bumrah, Nuwan Thushara.

Punjab Kings

Punjab’s overseas cricketers do not include many high-profile names. At the same time, it is difficult to pinpoint a weakness in their starting XII. Their bowling attack, in particular, may turn out to be stronger than perceived.

Starting XII: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Atharva Taide, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Sam Curran, Harshal Patel, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh

Rajasthan Royals

Rovman Powell will add the firepower Rajasthan lacked in the middle order in 2023, but the lack of a quality all-rounder persists. However, that can be resolved with efficient use of the Impact Player, something Rajasthan did not do last season.

Starting XII: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Rovman Powell, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Of the ten franchises, Bangalore probably have the weakest bowling attack, particularly in the spin department. Among pacers, they can pick only one of Reece Topley, Lockie Ferguson, and Alzarri Joseph to go with Mohammed Siraj, for they will pick all three of Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, and Cam Green.

Starting XII: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Karn Sharma, Mayank Dagar, Reece Topley, Mohammed Siraj, Vijaykumar Vyshak

Sunrisers Hyderabad

On paper, Hyderabad seem one of the title candidates in 2024. Not only is there no evident weakness but every department seems loaded with outstanding cricketers. However, they might be faced with a problem of plenty given the quality of overseas players they have in their ranks.

Starting XII: Abhishek Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram (c), Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar, Wanindu Hasaranga, Pat Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik, T Natarajan