The great Ravichandran Ashwin picks his top four teams ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Interestingly, he left his former team and five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
The 10 franchises finalized their teams after the IPL 2026 mini-auction at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, December 16. Although the trading window will remain open until the start of the season, it is unlikely that teams will make changes at this stage.
Ashwin chose five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) as his first choice. The Hardik Pandya-led side retained its core after last month's retention window and traded for Sherfane Rutherford (from GT), Mayank Markande (from KKR), and Shardul Thakur (from LSG). They had the lowest amount of money in the auction but still managed to sign Quinton de Kock along with other homegrown talents.
As for his second choice, Ashwin went for defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), who also retained their core group of players ahead of the auction. Venkatesh Iyer He proved to be a star signing for RCB as he joined for Rs 7 crore. Jacob Duffy was another high-profile signing as RCB got a solid backup to Josh Hazlewood.
Punjab Kings, who finished runners-up last season, and inaugural champions Rajasthan Royals are the other contenders for the title, as picked by Ashwin. Shreyas Iyer and Co. had almost all the bases covered and decided to acquire the services of the Australian duo of Cooper Connolly and Ben Dwarshuis.
On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals had included Sam Curran and Ravindra Jadeja in their line-up in place of Sanju Samson only last month. During the auction, their star signing was Ravi Bishnoi, who earned a contract worth Rs 7.2 crore. Adam Milne also joins the setup along with six other uncapped players.
Barring RR, the other three teams mentioned by Ashwin had reached the playoffs last year. He said these things during a conversation on MI's Instagram handle. He praised the franchise for strengthening its team despite a modest budget of Rs 2.75 crore.
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