The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League is now in its full flow. After witnessing a major shake-up, the teams finally seems sorted with their captains and coaches. A lot of players will be featuring in new colors this year as well and it will be interesting to see how they fare for their new franchise. Teams like Chennai, Kolkata, and Mumbai will be looking to extend their dominance while Bengaluru, Delhi, and Punjab will be raring to lay hands over their maiden titles. After the retentions and hard-fought auctions, it is evident that all franchises have some glaring strengths and weaknesses.
#1 CHENNAI SUPER KINGS- EXPERIENCE
The most successful side of the Indian Premier League is back after a long break of 2 years and they are back with a bang. They will be looking to grab what they left off and they have clearly shown this with their first two games. They made an excellent choice by retaining their most iconic Indian players- Dhoni, Raina, and Jadeja. They also made good choices by retaining Bravo and Faf du Plessis in the auctions bringing much more experience and talent to their side. The team also managed to add experienced players like Harbhajan and Watson to their side. A squad filled with such experienced cricketers who have tasted victory already will have an upper hand in high-pressure situations and can definitely taste even more success.
#2 DELHI DAREDEVILS- GAMBHIR’S CAPTAINCY
The Daredevils are yet to win their maiden IPL title. Every season, they come with a good-looking team on paper but falter when it matters. They have not had a constant captain in their ranks since the retirement of Virendra Sehwag. With talented youngsters like Rishabh Pant, Vijay Shankar, Shreyas Iyer, they just needed a good mentor and they have been able to find it in the form of the greatly experienced Gautam Gambhir.
#3 KINGS XI PUNJAB- THE KARNATAKA BATSMAN
The Kings XI Punjab have three batsmen in their rank from the other side of the country i.e; the Karnataka trio of KL Rahul, Karun Nair, and Mayank Agrawal. Karnataka has dominated the domestic circuit in recent times. The Kings XI Punjab will be hoping that their Karnataka trio can come together and win matches for their franchise this year, much like they have for their state in the domestic circuit.
#4 KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS- OVERSEAS TALENT
Chris Lynn, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc. There are few cricketers who are better than any of these four in the shortest format of the game. However, Starc is out of the IPL due to injury but the other three are capable enough themselves to thrash any team around the world. Apart from this, they have got an experienced captain in the form of Dinesh Karthik who proved his worth in the final of the Nidahas Trophy.
#5 MUMBAI INDIANS- DEPTH IN BATTING LINEUP
Mumbai Indians have won the coveted trophy three out of five times in the last five years. One major factor in their success over the years has been the depth in their batting lineup and they head in this year’s IPL with the same depth. Evin Lewis and Ishan Kishan are likely to open with the bat. Rohit Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Suryakumar Yadav make up a strong middle order. Should the Mumbai Indians opt to play an all-rounder, JP Duminy or Ben Cutting, then they have an eighth batsman as well and can easily chase down any total with such.
#6 RAJASTHAN ROYALS- MIDDLE ORDER
History has shown the importance of a sound middle order. The Royal Challengers through bitter experience know how critical it is. Mumbai Indians have won three titles owing to a consistently performing middle order. The Rajasthan side too seems sorted. Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, and Jos Buttler are likely to feature in the middle order followed by all-rounders K Gowtham and Jofra Archer. However, their hopes for the titles have been hugely thrashed with the ban on their captain Steve Smith. Still, there is some relief with the new captain being Ajinkya Rahane who has vast experience and will open the batting for the side.
#7 ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU - SQUAD DEPTH
The Royal Challengers, over the years, have known to be overly reliant on their star-studded batting lineup. This year, the franchise from Bengaluru have played smart in the auctions. The can use the “horses for courses” approach to games depending on the pitch. They have plenty of opening batting options, a strong middle order, all-rounders, spinners as well as pacers and for the first time in so many years, their team looks so complete. Maybe they can grab it for the bearded man this year.
#8 SUNRISERS HYDERABAD- THE BOWLING LINEUP
