Team Ahmedabad is the second team that will be included in the Indian Premier League (IPL). They have confirmed the deals with three cricketers prior to the 2022 IPL auction.
The CVC Capital-owned franchise enlisted the services of serial title-winner Hardik Pandya, Afghan spin-bowling sensation Rashid Khan and talented young opener Shubman Gill.
The team will benefit INR 7 crore thanks to Gill, but also will lose INR 15 crore due to Pandya and Rashid.
Under the rules of the auction, each franchise can spend a total of INR 90 crore on its players, meaning Team Ahmedabad will head to this year's auction with INR 53 crore which are left.
Team Ahmedabad have canceled the possibility of buying a captain from the action pool. The reason for that is that Pandya is supposed to lead the team.
At their previous franchises, all three of their signings were top draws, but none were retained.
Now let’s look at the rating from 1 to 10 for every of Team Ahmedabad's last signings.
#1 Hardik Pandya - 5/10
Hardik Pandya was a match-winner for Mumbai Indians.
Having won the IPL four times, Hardik Pandya enters Team Ahmedabad as a finisher and some handy numbers as a bowler. Pandya is a local boy for the Gujarat-based franchise due to his origin and this may become a feature of the team.
The all-rounder's popularity will attract the attention of fans, especially if you remember that he is likely to be the captain of the team.
For the moment, however, Pandya's career hangs in freefall. His ability to bowl is still in doubt due to his back injury which required a long recovery.
He was able to cope with damage in 2020 as a pure batter, but he lost his deserted form in 2021. These factors led to a terrible IPL and T20 World Cup run.
Also, he has no well-established captaincy credentials, so Team Ahmedabad massive investment in him seems extravagant.
#2 Rashid Khan - 9.5/10
Rashid Khan is probably kind of a T20 legend, although he is very young and his cricketing career is relatively short. Having already crossed 400 T20 wickets, the Afghan leg-spinner will look to notch up many more in IPL 2022, playing for a franchise other than the Sunrisers Hyderabad for the first time. Rashid led Afghanistan in the past and brings with him a keen cricketing mind. Do you want to make money on ipl bet 2022 - see our list of the best sites!
Signing Rashid Khan gives Team Ahmedabad a wily bowler who can also make strong contributions with the bat in the slog overs. The 23-year-old player has unusual style of actions and gamut of variations are supposed to make him the team's strike bowler, who can pick up wickets independently of the game situation.
One of the outstanding international players in the last few years in the league, Rashid at INR 15 crore is a worthy long-term investment.
#3 Shubman Gill - 8/10
Shuman Gill entered the IPL after a successful ICC Under-19 World Cup and spent the major part of two seasons batting in the Kolkata Knight Riders. Only after that, he made the opening spot his own.
Following his win of the IPL Emerging Player Award in 2019, Gill became one of KKR's top run-scorers in the next two seasons, as well as playing a variety of mature innings during the team's campaign in 2021.
Although Gill's timing and shot selection mark him out as a player of high quality, his strike rate at the top of the winnings was identified as a road-block to the team's success. There was a period when Gill was seen as a future KKR leader, but his strike rate made him fall behind fellow opener Venkatesh Iyer in the pecking order when it came to retentions.
INR 7 crore for a young cricketer like Gill might prove to be a prudent purchase if the youngster improves his attacking game in 2022.