Hey hitters, i just had an idea & decided to put it down here. Everyone talks about the big names & there performance but i would like to name a few who can spring a surprise this season. (One from each franchise)
1) CSK - Kedar Jadhav has not been in his 2016ish touch for 2 straight years now but i am really hopeful that this season he will prove handy for the CSK team. Also with Harbhajan Singh opting out & no off-spinner available, i believe he will have to chip in with a few overs & can deliver there too.
2) RCB - I expect Shivam Dube to have a big season this time around. With the type of bowling he has, the pitches may aid him & well, he can also cement his finisher spot too.
3) MI - In a team full of stars, it is difficult to find a 'surprise element', but i guess we all are waiting for Ishan Kishan to deliver an actually good performance. And this may be the year for that to happen.
4) SRH - Vijay Shankar's name has been doing rounds for quite a while now but he hasnt been able to make a strong mark yet. But he showed glimpses of promise last year whenever promoted to no.3/4/5. And that, i guess, is & should be his role. Cannot expect him to come in & tonk because i see him bat & i know he has the technique to settle in and then make it big.
5) KKR - With the solid batting lineup consisting of Morgan, Russell, Karthik, Gill ; i do not see any 'surprise batsman' in there. But, in the bowling department lies a name who has been out of the spotlight for 2 years. Kuldeep Yadav. His form has dipped but i really am optimistic about his chances of success this season. If the pitches play as expected, the Chinaman can go good.
6) DC - When DC comes up, we assume Iyer, Dhawan, Rabada, Pant ; but the one guy who goes unnoticed is Axar Patel. His accurate left arm spin can prove really helpful & his batting prowess is not one to be ignored. Expect him to have a fruitful season.
7) KXIP - We do not do justice to Mayank Aggarwal when we talk about KXIP. He has blown hot & cold but with the confidence of Intl. success & domestic too, this time he can turn the tide in his favour. I hope he plays regularly & at No.3 ; if so, i back him to make his mark.
8) RR - I am really, REALLLY surprised by the fact that Shreyas Gopal is still not considered among the top spinners in the IPL. He has proved it again & again last season AND in domestic circuit. He dismissed Virat & ABD in consecutive deliveries last year (in a shortened game). Apart from that, was RR's highest wicket taker. He has the potential & will have to leave huge impact if RR have to succeed this season.
These were my surprise elements & i would really love and appreciate inputs & your personal choices. Thank you for reading the post, join me in the countdown to IPL 2020.

Although the retention policy isn't final yet, most probably 3-5 players will be allowed for retention s+RTM. If only 3 players are allowed, it's pretty much decided that Kohli, de Villiers and Chahal will stay. In case of 5 retentions, 2 guys out of Padikkal, Morris and Sundar will make it.
First, we need good openers (one attacking and one who is more of an anchor). If Padikkal stays, then he'll hold one slot for sure. The contenders for other opener(s) in my opinion are:

1. Aaron Finch (lots of experience and could trash bowlers asf in Chinnaswamy)
2. Tom Banton (if KKR let him go, which they probably will)
3. Prithvi Shaw (DC will probably let him go, since they already have many better contenders for the 5 retentions. Although he will have to learn to not throw his wicket away)
4. Chris Lynn (MI won't probably retain him, since he didn't even get a game and guys like Kishan, SKY, de Kock have made solid cases for themselves so atleast one of these may get to stay and the retentions of Rohit, Bumrah and Pollard are pretty much fixed)
5. Jason Roy
6. Johnny Bairstow (has had amazing time with SRH, but if the 2 overseas player retention policy stays, then SRH will want to keep Warner and Rashid. )
7. Wriddhiman Saha (unlikely that SRH will let him go, but could be a good addition to our openers)
8. Josh Philippe
9. Colin Munro
10. Quinton de Kock (if MI decide to retain Pollard and Boult/Malinga)
11. Shai Hope
12. Evin Lewis

I feel we should go all out in the auction for one of the mentioned players (mostly an overseas player) and then also go for another Indian capped/uncapped opener like Parthiv, Jaiswal, Rahane, Tripathi, Utappha as a backup.
After the openers and Virat, AB at 3 and 4, we need another good middle order batsman at no. 5 and a finisher at 6. The reason we lost all those matches in second half of IPL 2020 is because our middle order was a bit too frail. AB can't always win games for us. As little as 10-15 runs scored more by the middle ordeor one of Phillipe/Finch could have won us 3-4 more games. Possibilities for 5&6:

1. Kane Williamson (will be most probably let go by SRH because of the 2 overseas players policy. )
2. Mandeep Singh
3. Aditya Tare
4. Dinesh Karthik (with Virat and AB in the lineup, he'll be under less pressure than he was this year, and can play freely. )
5. Andre Russell/Sunil Narine/Eoin Morgan ( KKR may retain only one or two at the most of these three.) 6.Jos ButtleSteve Smith/Ben Stokes (RR can keep only one of these, since they will absolutely retain Archer.)
6. Joe Root
7. Other all rounders like Moeen Ali, de Grandhomme, Chris Woakes (could be our MVP), Tom Curran, Sam Curran, Marcus Stoinis.
8. Suresh Raina (there's nothing more lethal than having Raina, Kohli and de Villiers in the same lineup)
9. Glenn Maxwell (has sucked since 2014, but might play with a little more intent in IPL 2021since T20 WC 2021 is in India)
10. Suggest more

We should go for atleast 2 of the above mentioned players. Third, we need a tier 1 fast bowler to get us wickets. Contenders:

1. Mitchell Starc (I'm sure he'll play IPL 2021 since the T20 WC after that is scheduled in India)
2. Trent Boult (possible if MI retain Pollard and Malinga)
3. Pat Cummins (unlikely that KKR will keep him)
4. Lockie Ferguson (possible if KKR keep Russell and Narine)
5. Chris Morris (had a good few games this year. Very handy with the bat as well)
6. Kagiso Rabada/Anrich Nortje (if DC keep Stoinis, only one of Rabada and Nortje can stay)
7. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
8. Lasith Malinga (possible if he plays and MI don't retain him)
9. Suggest more.

RCB management should keep 20-25 crores ready for these 5-6 players.

RR is a top heavy lineup with jos the boss and steve smith opening the batting and the splendid samson at 3 RCB will be looking to get a early break through and keep the sanju storm quiet even if they can keep then quiet in the batting they still have explosive all rounders down the order 1 of them being the HERO OF SHARJAH 2020 -Rahul Tewatia
even if rcbs weak bowling gets away with this they will have to play the swing of rajpoot the pace of archers arrows (balls) even if the top order gets through this they still have to play the mysteries of gopal and will have to play the short balls of curran
if RCBS 11 can withstand all these challenges in the rr 11 they will be the true VICTORS(the CHALLENGERS)#PLAYBOLD #ESCN

Last season, Royal Challengers Bangalore lost seven out of their first eight matches. At a time when most teams contending for a playoff spot were beginning to ascend, RCB were barely finding their footing. The faint ray of hope generated from wins in their next three matches was quickly shut out by a defeat against Delhi Capitals. A batting order that found different ways to come short and a bowling lineup that was just far too expensive, they almost let MS Dhoni chase down 28 in the last over at M Chinnaswamy.
In light of their sorry recent history, hiring former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson as Director of Cricket could turn out to be their most important move ahead of IPL 2020. Hesson, who guided New Zealand to their first World Cup final appearance in 2015 and built the framework for a repeat in 2019, made his name as an astute judge of talent. It fits almost seamlessly into RCB’s biggest mission ahead of the auction and next summer’s IPL – build a strong and sustainable team around Kohli and de Villiers.
At a press conference, Hesson spoke about the importance of smart recruitment. “There will be a big focus on recruitment. Once the auction gets completed, the work starts then, not a week before the tournament starts. We would have clarity in the roles we want the players to perform.”
This autumn, Hesson spent a lot of time in Surat, Gujarat, watching India’s domestic T20 tournament, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. “During Vijay Hazare and Mushtaq Ali Trophy, we would like to see players we want to fit in. It’s more about finding out how players build context around performance, conditions and pressure situations.”
A lot of Hesson’s attention has been drawn towards Devdutt Padikkal, a name that is now on the lips of everyone interested in Indian cricket. The 19-year-old left-hander, playing in a Karnataka team with established international batsmen like KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, and Manish Pandey, was the highest run-scorer in both the Vijay Hazare (50 over) and Syed Mushtaq Ali tournaments. At the Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he scored 580 runs at a remarkable average of 64.44 and a strike-rate of 175.

IPL 2020 Trade window

▪Transfers: None
▪Players released: Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetymer, Akshdeep Nath, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Colin De Grandhomme, Prayas Ray Barman, Tim Southee, Kulwant Khejroliya, Himmat Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Chama Milind, Dale Steyn.
▪How they shape up: Rs 27.9 cr available, twelve slots to fill (six overseas).

In a major cleanout last month, Royal Challengers Bangalore released as many as 12 players, including Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, and Colin de Grandhomme. RCB pinned a lot of hopes on Hetmyer last season and will be disappointed with how he could never really find his form. When someone like Hetmyer gets going, as he did in their last league game, he propels the whole team forward. If Hetmyer can hit some sort of groove in the current series against India, Hesson will be tempted to at least look at him as a middle-order option, given they have six overseas slots to fill.
The team management seems to have a lot of faith in Shivam Dube, and given his attributes, it is understandable why they let go of similar all-rounders in Stoinis and De Grandhomme. Washington Sundar and Moeen Ali have been retained too, so Hesson may be looking to build the lower-order all-round core around those three.
The 12 available slots open up enough space for Hesson to rebuild the entire team one year before the 2021 auction, where many currently retained players – across all teams – will be placed for auction again.

Major holes to plug

Middle order

A big chunk of their spending at December's auction will have to be on top and middle-order batting. Their recent releases mean that only four main batsmen –Kohli, AB, Padikkal, and Parthiv remain on their roster. The middle-order has been RCB’s biggest aching joint over the years, and their two match-winners in Kohli and de Villiers often bat with the pressure of finding very little backup if they get out early. RCB will, without doubt, look at both Indian and overseas options, so expect them to chase a lot of experience, because a good middle order will go a long way in stabilising their batting.

Seam bowling

Seam bowling is another area RCB need to strengthen. Between Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj, they have a solid Indian core, but the release of Dale Steyn, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Tim Southee have left enough overseas gaps to fill. They will have their eyes on players like Antrich Nortje, Alzarri Joseph, and Beuran Hendricks, all of whom should come at reasonable prices.

The Virat-sized problem

Between now and the beginning of IPL 2020, the RCB team management has its task cut out. They will not only have to set up a team which can support and complement the talents of Virat and AB, but also bring those two back to their best, because, in recent years, they have been slightly below par.
At IPL 2019, Kohli and De Villiers, as is the norm, ended up as the highest run-scorers for RCB, but a deeper look revealed a problem. Between both, they could only muster eight scores above 50 over 27 innings. At the 2018 edition, their aggregate was 10 in 25 innings. Compared to their glorious summer of 2016, when they crossed a half-century 18 times in 32 combined innings, their recent numbers paint a bleak picture given that they are the two batting mainstays of the team. Bending in further with the magnifying glass, there is an even more worrisome statistic that will look new coach Simon Katich in the eye: across the last two seasons, Kohli has crossed fifty a mere seven times in 28 innings.
It isn’t every day that we talk of a Kohli statistic and the numbers don’t put him on top of some mountain. His run aggregates, average, and strike-rate over these two seasons are still very healthy, but healthy, purely in the context of run-making, isn’t enough for Virat. He will know it better than most that 30s and 40s, especially at the strike-rates he operates at, aren’t enough. Simply put, RCB need to find a way for Kohli to become the run-machine that he is for India. If Virat plays well, RCB will too.

On the radar

Chris Lynn

The bidding war for Maxwell is one of the most fascinating sights at an IPL auction. His numbers in the IPL are middling at best, disappointing if you consider his stature and ability, but still, year after year, many franchises have spent good money on him just in the hope to see his true self.
Maxwell is returning from a voluntary break from cricket and will be raring to get back to the sport he has often lit up. He is in good form too. The last time he batted in a T20, against Sri Lanka at Adelaide this October, he scored 62 off 28 balls. A veteran of 251 T20s, his ability to change the course of the game in the blink of an eye will not be lost on a team that is desperately looking for match-winners. He is an ODI World Cup winner for Australia, and RCB could use his leadership in a team that has often looked bereft of ideas. This auction, Maxwell’s IPL record and potential price might not align, but he could just be a risk worth taking.

Yashasvi Jaiswal

The latest pearl from the grounds of Mumbai is a 17 year-old left-hander who already has a domestic double century. In this October's Vijay Hazare Trophy, Jaiswal opened the batting for Mumbai and scored hundreds against Kerala and Goa within a week, before rounding off his golden run with a 203 against Jharkand. In only the six matches that he played in the tournament, Jaiswal hit 25 sixes, the second highest in the entire tournament.
Jaiswal is a certainty to open the batting for India at the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa next year, and between him and Padikkal, RCB could land themselves a really young and dynamic Indian opening partnership, which will also free up overseas slots for other areas.

Adam Milne

Keeping with this pattern of left-field choices, Milne is likely to fly under the radar for most IPL franchises. He hasn’t played international or first class cricket in a year, through injuries, but his spell with Kent and performances in this year’s Vitality Blast will encourage Hesson, who has previously worked with him for New Zealand. Milne is an proven T20 bowler with a career average of only 22.32 and economy of 7.65 runs an over across 96 matches.
Death bowling at Chinnaswamy can be a challenge, and with the releases of Steyn and Southee, RCB will desperately be looking at overseas options. Milne will likely not cost RCB much, and if they can land him, he will allow them to rotate between Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, and Mohammed Siraj.
Given a strong, well-rounded team that is built to excel in different conditions, there is no reason why a lineup with Virat, AB, Moeen and Yuzvendra Chahal should not succeed, but then, Royal Challengers Bangalore will be familiar with a question like this. It is about time they break the pattern and bring success to the Chinnaswamy, much like the Karnataka cricket team have done this year.