New franchise Pune Warriors had to fork out $370m – the highest price for any team to date – to win their bid.But they had enough money left over to piece together one of this year’s best balanced squads.

Wisely, they have built their squad around the local talents of national hero Yuvraj Singh, power finisher Robin Uthappa, and seamer Ashish Nehra. Most of their cash was splurged on two batsmen, Yuvraj ($1.8m) and Uthappa ($2.1m).

Unfortunately, injury to the Sri Lankan allrounder Angelo Mathews during the World Cup means he will sit out the IPL, and Mithun Manhas may be used as an allround option.

Murali Kartik and Nathan McCullum will bolster the spin-bowling, while the pace bowlers include Nehra, Jerome Taylor and Wayne Parnell.

Pune was also hit by controversy for the way it lured Manish Pandey away from Royal Challengers Bangalore. As a result Pandey must serve a four-match ban.

Strengths

Yuvraj was a flop in last year’s IPL, but he was in sparkling form in the World Cup, after reining in his more extravagant tendencies. Captaining the side could also drive this somewhat self-regarding cricketer to take greater responsibility.

The rest of the batting line-up is a good blend of maturity and youthful flair. Uthappa, Graeme Smith, Jesse Ryder, Tim Paine, Callum Ferguson and Mitchell Marsh should provide plenty of runs.

The talented New Zealand allrounder Ryder could prove to be one of the bargains of the tournament at $150,000.

Weaknesses

Pune’s overseas signings are relatively unspectacular and there are worries about the bowling attack.

South African Wayne Parnell is prone to injury and the promising trio of Jerome Taylor, Kamran Khan and Harpreet Singh are young and inexperienced at this level.

Kamran had to sit out the whole of the 2010 season while he re-modelled his suspect action, which may have hindered his development.

Another potential weakness is the captaincy of the untried Yuvraj.

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