Whether it is at the IPL auction or on the field, several IPL teams are always competing for the IPL trophy. After intense auctions, some teams have assembled a very strong lineup that is capable of winning the IPL trophy in the upcoming season.

Kolkata Knight Riders looked to be a very strong team by winning all the auction bids with the huge amount of money they had. On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings have reversed their trend and now have a bunch of youngsters in the team but they have neglected their experienced cricketers.

IPL teams vying for 2026 title

4. Delhi Capital City

Delhi Capitals looked like a very promising team in the IPL mini-auction; they made some strategic decisions and brought in some of the best players. Delhi looks strong and already has several batsmen like KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Abishek Porel and Tristan Stubbs in the lineup.

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Their players this time include England opener Ben Duckett, experienced Proteas finisher David Miller and Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka. Prithvi Shaw is also back in the Delhi Capitals squad.

Apart from a strong line-up of finishers, they also have several good bowlers including South African duo David Miller and Tristan Stubbs. They have an excellent bowling line-up including captain Axar Patel, Vipraj Nigam, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc and T. Natrajan. Along with them, Auqib Nabi is also ready to strengthen their bowling platform.

3. Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians saw few changes in the IPL mini-auction as Quinton de Kock was the only major player to be bought in the auction. However, they made some promising draft picks in the form of trades, including Sherfane Rutherford and Shardul Thakur from GT and LSG.

They already have a strong batting order with Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Will Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav, Naman Dhir and Hardik Pandya. Corbin Bosch and Mitchell Santner are the most reliable all-around options.

Quinton de Kock bolsters the top order, while Sherfane Rutherford could be an ideal finisher down low. This time around, Mumbai Indians backed a pace attack that featured Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar and Trent Boult along with spinners Mayank Markande and Allah Ghazanfar.

2.Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings already have a good set of players in the form of captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and the quality of the young players in the team. Devalde Brevais, Ayush Mhat, Uvir Patel, Shivam Dube and Noor Ahmed are among the names who have impressed for them in the past few seasons.

Sanju Samson was also drafted to the team via trade. However, the two unavailable players in the team are Kartik Sharma and Prashant Veer, in whom the Super Kings have invested heavily.

The CSK bowling will be the only area where they lack strength as they will have Matt Henry, Khalil Ahmed and Nathan Ellis leading the attack with Noor Ahmed as the chief spinner. Prashant Veer and Rahul Chahar are likely to be the other spinners in the XI, making CSK one of the most balanced teams in the upcoming season.

1. Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders are one of the strongest teams after this mini-auction. They have finally filled the void with the likes of New Zealand goalkeepers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen. Tejasvi Singh, on the other hand, is another great wicketkeeper they have on deck.

They also have the likes of Rachin Ravindra at the top of the order, while the rest of their batting order looks solid, especially after the arrival of all-rounder Cameron Green. The bowling set-up is probably one of the best in the league with Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Akash Deep, Matheesha Pathirana and Mustafizur Rahman.

Led by Abhishek Nayar and Shane Watson, the three-time champions will be seen as one of the strongest teams under the new management.

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