India, March 14 -- Gujarat Giants won the title in their debut season, finished runners-up in their sophomore and then were condemned to eighth spot in the third. Hardik Pandya's sheer force of personality and his extraordinary performances with bat and ball were a huge part of their first two seasons and there is no doubt that they missed that in the third.

GT chose to let go of Mohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami, David Miller and Noor Ahmad, among other names ahead of the mega auction last year. At the auction itself, they went all out to acquire Jos Buttler, Kagiso Rabada and Glenn Phillips. With Rashid Khan already being there, GT's set of foreign players they will be playing throughout the season seems set in stone. They also brought in M...