As we build up to the 2026 edition of the Indian Premier League, we will have a look at key personnel changes and how the teams shape up ahead of the season. In this analytical preview, Eoin Morgan – Chief Cricket Analyst, Parimatch, and Jonty Rhodes- Key Cricket Analyst, Parimatch, two of the game’s most respected cricket minds – deliver a comprehensive breakdown of the makeup of the 10 IPL teams.
|
The Rs 28 Crore Question: Are These Kids Ready
Prashant Veer (R) and Kartik Sharma (C) with Rahul Chahar (L) in CSK pre-season camp
The Indian Premier League mini-auction once again brought out many surprises, but none more than Chennai Super Kings splurging over Rs. 28 Crores on two unknown commodities, Kartik Sharma and Prashant Veer.
Eoin Morgan’s Scouting Report
With MS Dhoni approaching the end of his career and Ravindra Jadeja traded to Rajasthan Royals along with Sam Curran in exchange for the prized asset of Sanju Samson, Chennai Super Kings entered the mini-auction with a clear plan of strengthening the middle order.
By acquiring the duo for Rs. 14.2 Crores each, the Super Kings set the record for the most amount of money paid to an uncapped player, that too twice in the same auction. The mini-auction also saw Aquib Nabi’s efforts get a fair reward as he became the third costliest uncapped buy in the IPL auction history.
Prashant Veer
In the 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Prashant Veer made a name for himself whilst representing Uttar Pradesh as the left-arm all-rounder, picking 9 wickets in 7 matches at an average of 18.77, while also bowling at an excellent economy rate of 6.76. With the bat in hand, the left-hander scored 112 runs at a strike rate of 170, which proves that he doesn’t need a lot of balls to settle in before firing off the big shots.
Before the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Veer also made a name for himself while playing for Noida Super Kings in the UP T20 League. While his numbers may seem ordinary, Veer’s fitness and temperament in crucial situations have made him stand out from his other colleagues, and which is probably why the CSK management decided to take a punt on him in order to find the next Ravindra Jadeja.
Kartik Sharma
Kartik Sharma is a talent that we will be seeing more and more of in the coming years, as the youngster started impressing early on in age-group tournaments like Vijay Merchant Trophy and Vinoo Mankad Trophy.
Despite impressing at an early age, Kartik missed the bus for the 2024 ICC U-19 World Cup due to the sheer number of talents India has been producing in the last few years and also couldn’t make it to the 2025 IPL mega-auction.
But, Kartik’s Ranji Trophy debut for Rajasthan against Uttarakhand was phenomenal as he smashed 113 runs off 115 balls, and then went on to score a century on his List A Debut as well in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Averaging 40+ in his maiden Ranji Trophy season and 50+ in his maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy season at a strike rate of 118 makes Kartik one of the most exciting wicket-keeper batters going around in the country.
Still in his teenage years, Kartik is a promising middle-order batter whose strokeplay has amused one and all across the cricketing world and the batter could be a long-term replacement for MS Dhoni who is approaching the fag end of his IPL career.
As seen in IPL 2025, experienced players like Rishabh Pant and Venkatesh Iyer also crumbled under the pressure created by the amount they were getting paid for the league season, so it would be a huge challenge for these two young players to ignore the ‘Big Money Label’ and focus purely on the cricketing side of things.
Jonty Rhodes weighs in on spotting raw domestic talent
I feel it is very important to nurture talent from a young age. I grew up in the 1970s and there was not a lot of coaching around at that time in cricket, especially for fielding, so we had to learn from our own mistakes on the field.
I personally always wanted to give my best on the field and I learnt this quality from playing other sports like football, hockey, and tennis, and from my father who was a rugby player and did a lot for primary school sports back in South Africa.
These days, fielding has emerged as the third pillar of the game and we need to instill the correct values and attitude in the players from a young age, because skills can be taught but the right attitude must be instilled and spotted from an early age.
While teams like CSK have now understood the importance of nurturing young talent and publicly acknowledged and acted upon the fact that they need to bring in more young talent. Last season, we witnessed the Super Kings bringing in Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis, and Urvil Patel and they have picked two more potential young stars in the mini-auction.
The crucial thing in grooming youngsters is allowing them the freedom to fail, as we previously seen multiple times at Mumbai Indians, they have allowed a space for their young talent to flourish with the likes of Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Tilak Varma, and Ishan Kishan coming through at the franchise.
Now, it’s upon these young players coming through to show a commitment to growth with the correct attitude and spread more positive energy and display more athleticism, not only in competitive matches, but also on the training grounds and in the simulation matches.
