The Player Draft process for the 2 new franchises for the upcoming edition of the IPL has just been completed. As expected, India’s limited overs skipper MS Dhoni, and captain of the defunct Chennai Super Kings was the first player to be chosen. Dhoni was drafted in the Pune side for 12.5 crores while Rajkot first drafted Dhoni’s former teammate Suresh Raina.
All in all, Rajkot seems to have a stronger side as their arsenal consists of batting giants such as Suresh Raina and Brendon McCullum. They also have three all-rounders in Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, and Dwayne Bravo. The Pune side consists of Dhoni, R. Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Faf Du Plessis and Steve Smith.
Twitter reacted to the drafting process; below are some tweets.
Alt’s #IPLDraft TOP TIPS: Pick Samson over Dhoni as your Indian wicket-keeper. Dhoni’s form over last year doesn’t justify max price.
— Alt Cricket (@AltCricket) December 15, 2015
I know you’ve just bought an IPL team and you’re rich and all but for the love of god don’t spend all your money on Stuart Binny. #IPLDraft
— Alt Cricket (@AltCricket) December 15, 2015
Total Players Picked 10 7 Players from CSK 3 Players from RR Shows you the dominance of CSK in IPL #IPLDraft
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) December 15, 2015
pune’s middle order is sorted with smith, rahane, du plessis & dhoni- now can go for players that fit around them #IPLDraft
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) December 15, 2015
Pune: MSD,Rahane,Ashwin,SSmith,Plessis in #IPL Mts:398, Runs: 7413, av 32.95, SR 128.88, 100/50 1/40 Wkts: 91, Ave: 24.24, RO 6.49 #IPLDraft
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) December 15, 2015
four of pune’s five picks have led their country- dhoni, rahane, smith & du plessis! #IPLDraft
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) December 15, 2015
not the first time steve smith is playing for a pune team in the IPL! #IPLDraft
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) December 15, 2015
Interesting to see who will captain Rajkot. Will it be d experienced Baz or local lad Jaddu or Team Man Raina?? #IPLDraft
— Aravind Chidambaram (@ImAravind4) December 15, 2015
It ll fun to see @msdhoni n @ImRaina to battle against each other!!! #IPLdraft
— Hanifmunna (@Hanifmunna9742) December 15, 2015
First trading window: December 15-31, 2015 Second trading window: January 11-22, 2016 #IPLDraft #IPLAuction
— CricketCountry (@cricket_country) December 15, 2015
Hoping To See Baz As Captain Of Rajkot #IPLDraft
— Shreyas Shah (@shreyas29_shah) December 15, 2015
Both teams Pune and Rajkot have a purse of Rs 27 crores left after the draft Will use this money for auction to b held on 6th FEB #IPLDraft
— Abhinav Rao (@abhinavibn) December 15, 2015
Dhoni will get his best team. Ashwin the main bowler and Rahane as a specialist batsman #IPLDraft
— Gaurav Singh (@gaurav24496) December 15, 2015
Don’t know who to support now. Hurts to see @msdhoni and @ImRaina playing for different teams. #bringbackCSK #IPLDraft @ChennaiIPL
— Mohammed Ikram (@uhikram) December 15, 2015
Excited to see @msdhoni and @stevesmith49 play together tho! #IPLDraft
— V Tej Manohar (@Cric_Maverick) December 15, 2015