Which IPL team has the best brains?

[zen]

IPL teams put a lot of brain power in their teams. Which team has the best set of brains?  I am grouping the teams in 3 tiers, within a tier, teams are placed in alphabetical order: 

 

 

Top Tier

 

GT (the wolves): Easily has the best captain & coach combination. Now have added KW to its squad. Kirsten is the mentor. 

 

 

Middle Tier 

 

CSK: Usually can be placed in the top tier but its TM is in the decline phase. Might see a transition (even midway through the IPL) where someone like Stokes is appointed the captain. 

 

DC: With Pant possibly out of IPL 2023, Warner & Ponting can give DC an OZ edge. 

 

LSG: Gets points for GG, but the KL factor places it back in the middle. 

 

RCB: With Kohli (thankfully) out as captain, du Plessis gives it some hope. Rest of the management is more or less the same. 

 

RR (shoot first, talk later): Could have been in the top tier too, however, Sangakkara can be "too" smart for his own team's good (In a brain test, the machine might crash due to Sangakkara's turbo charged brain power). Buttler & Samson are cool customers. 

 

 

Bottom Tier 

 

KKR: With Baz gone, need to see how it goes. 

 

MI: Rohit as captain, enough said. Ambani $$$ cannot always bail the team.

 

PK: No explanation needed. 

 

SRH: Too many changes. 

 

Edited February 3, 2023 by zen

[Chakdephatte]

The one with worst jersey, worst logo, and worst name. Lucknow obviously.

[Chakdephatte]

Their auction strategy was clear. 7 proper batsmen with 6-7 bowling options of every kind. Sla (KP), Offie (Hooda), Tall accurate fast bowler in Holder (not a great pick tbh), hit the deck value in Mohsin, Chameera, and proven youngsters in Avesh and Bishnoi. All other franchises made half hearted teams. The only team to figure out Hooda's batting position as well. No needless expensive buys. 

[zen]

2 hours ago, Chakdephatte said:

Their auction strategy was clear. 7 proper batsmen with 6-7 bowling options of every kind. Sla (KP), Offie (Hooda), Tall accurate fast bowler in Holder (not a great pick tbh), hit the deck value in Mohsin, Chameera, and proven youngsters in Avesh and Bishnoi. All other franchises made half hearted teams. The only team to figure out Hooda's batting position as well. No needless expensive buys. 

 

Note that this yr, there is no Holder or Chameera in LSG's squad. Many teams bid for Avesh, Krunal & Hooda last yr's auction ... Moshin turned out to be a great pick at base price. 

Edited February 3, 2023 by zen

[Adamant]

Ashish full toss Nehra and Hardik Kar ke aaya Pandya(on live freaking tv) are the best brains in India.
They might qualify as the best brains in Canada, that's for sure.

[Tibarn]

No order within the tiers

Top: Most successful teams, have some combination of good scouting/coaches/captains and a proven track record 

MI 

CSK

 

Middle-Top: Good teams with good management  

GT- Great 1st season, but I didn't like the moves they made this offseason. Need to prove more before they go to top tier.  

RR- Team-Cricviz/moneyball Right process, but results haven't been there yet. They almost broke through last year, so they could be on the way up. 

SRH- Consistently solid team thanks to management, despite having underwhelming batting for years outside of Warner

Middle -Bottom: These are teams I think could win it all with either better coaching or captaincy changes

DC- I think they have the right youngish core Shaw, Pant, Axar, Nokia, they need the right coach to propel them to the top

LSG- The team isn't bad, I think they need a different batting approach to help their quality bowling

 

GT and LSG positions are tenuous, because they are both only in their 2nd season. 

 

Bottom:

KKR- I should have KKR in the middle tier based on their good track record, but I have a low opinion of their team management after: 1) they utilized Kuldeep/Prasidh poorly when they had them, both performed well the moment they left. 2) Threw DK under the bus for their poor performances, yet, when Morgan took over, it was the same. 

RCB- Never able to figure both sides of the ball. Always either poor at one of batting/bowling. Batting is usually reliant on only 2-3 players. This suggests poor auctions.

PK- Always disappoints. Last year it looked like they could make a run, but they drop an in-form batsman for a bigger name and get GPL.  

 

[Pakistan]

Probably Bombay. 

[Machine]

MI, CSK are corrupt to the core. 

 

The smartest teams are SRH, KKR 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Machine

[AuxiliA]

9 hours ago, Machine said:

MI, CSK are corrupt to the core. 

 

The smartest teams are SRH, KKR 

 

Who said the corrupt can't be the smartest? 

[Vickydev]

I'd say Rajasthan Royals and the Lucknow team seem to have the smartest management team imo