IPL 8 –An Overview
1. CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
There
were many controversies surrounding CSK the past year with fixing claims against
the owners. However, now they are all clear and will be going all out for the
coveted trophy. . Their amalgamation of quality Indian players
with their overseas counterparts is their strength. This year too they look the
most balanced side among all teams. Led by Captain Cool MS Dhoni, CSK are
surely among the favorites to defend the title.
Squad - MS Dhoni, Ashish Nehra, Baba
Aparajith, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Faf du Plessis, Ishwar
Pandey, Matt Henry, Mithun Manhas, Mohit Sharma, Pawan Negi, R Ashwin, Ravindra
Jadeja, Samuel Badree, Suresh Raina, Ronit More, Michael Hussey, Rahul Sharma,
Kyle Abbott, Irfan Pathan, Pratyush Singh, Ankush Bains, Eklavya Dwivedi,
Andrew Tye.
2. KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
The
defending champions have changed their tempo in the recent years having
undergone handsome changes. The captaincy of Gautam Gambhir has been crucial. KKR’s
spin attack led by Sunil Narine, is the best in the tournament. The team does
not have any Indian player who had featured in the World Cup. This topic can be
both a strength as well as weakness. The Kolkata Knight Riders look a team
of full-fledged T20 players and have a strong chance to win the title again.
Squad - Gautam Gambhir, Andre Russell,
Kuldeep Yadav, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Morne Morkel, Patrick Cummins,
Piyush Chawla, Robin Uthappa, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil
Narine, Umesh Yadav, Veer Pratap Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Johan Botha, Brad
Hogg, Aditya Garhwal, Sumit Narwal, KC Cariappa, Vaibhav Rawal, Sheldon Jackson.
3.
Mumbai
Indians
After the
first couple of seasons, MI have made it to at least the last four in every
season. A major reason behind this is their ability to retain core
players like Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu and
Kieron Pollard. Their Indian contingent is very good. MI have an excellent coaching
staff, all of whom were excellent players during their time. They should easily
progress to the finals if they can keep their nerves in the knockouts.
Squad - Rohit Sharma, Aditya Tare,
Ambati Rayudu, Corey Anderson, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Josh Hazlewood,
Keiron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Marchant de Lange, Pawan Suyal, Shreyas Gopal,
Lendl Simmons, Unmukt Chand, R Vinay Kumar, Parthiv Patel, Aaron Finch,
Pragyan Ojha, Mitchell McClenaghan, Akshay Wakhare, Aiden Blizzard, Hardik
Pandya, Siddhesh Lad, J Suchith, Nitish Rana, Abhimanyu Mithun.
4.
RAJASTHAN ROYALS
The
Royals have well-defined roles for each player. They rely on team work rather
than individual efforts. Their spin department lacks strength which can prove dangerous
in Indian conditions. The Rajasthan Royals are always the dark horses of the
IPL and this year to shall be the same.
Squad - Shane Watson, Abhishek Nayar,
Ajinkya Rahane, Ankit Nagendra Sharma, Ben Cutting, Deepak Hooda, Dhawal
Kulkarni, Dishant Yagnik, James Faulkner, Kane Richardson, Karun Nair, Pravin
Tambe, Rahul Tewatia, Rajat Bhatia, Sanju Samson, Steven Smith, Stuart Binny,
Tim Southee, Vikramjeet Malik, Chris Morris, Juan Theron, Barinder Singh
Saran, Dinesh Salunkhe, Sagar Trivedi, Pardeep Sahu
5.
ROYAL CHALLENGERS
BANGALORE
The
RCB side looks the best on paper. Featuring the likes of Kohli, Gayle, De
Villiers and Starc, they can beat any team on their day. Their home ground,
M.A. Chinnaswamy stadium is the best during IPL. However, they are chokers in
IPL. Given the depth in their squad, Virat’s men will be gunning for their
maiden title.
Squad - Virat Kohli, AB de Villers,
Chris Gayle, Mitchell Starc, Nic Maddinson, Varun Aaron, Yuzvendra Singh
Chahal, Rilee Rossouw, Vijay Zol, Yogesh Takawale, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Harshal
Patel, Ashok Dinda, Sandeep Warrier, Manvinder Bisla, Iqbal
Abdullah, Dinesh Karthik, Subramaniam Badrinath, Darren Sammy, Sean
Abbott, Adam Milne, David Wiese, Jalaj Saxena, Sarfaraz Naushad Khan, Shishir
Bhavane
6. SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
They
seem to be determined to prove a point as they had a very good day at the
auctions. They were one of the busiest teams as they roped in 10
players. Moreover, they were very smart in terms of their buys as they bought
some quality players like, Kane Williamson, Eoin Morgan and Hanuma Vihari for
relatively smaller amounts. Kevin Pietersen’s decision not to play in this year’s
IPL will go against them.
Squad - Shikhar Dhawan, Ashish Reddy,
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Chama Milind, Dale Steyn, David Warner, Ishant Sharma, Karn
Sharma, KL Rahul, Moises Henriques, Naman Ojha, Parvez Rasool, Ricky
Bhui, Eoin Morgan, Kane Williamson, Ravi Bopara, Laxmi Ratan Shukla,
Praveen Kumar, Trent Boult, Hanuma Vihari, Prasanth Padmanabhan, Siddarth Kaul
7.
KINGS XI PUNJAB
KXIP
made the noises for all the good reasons last year. A complete overhaul in the
coaching staff bringing in Sanjay Bangar paid rich dividends. They unarguably
have the best batting line-up amongst all teams. Bowling with Johnson leading
the attack is also good. Last years’ finalists will try to go one step better
this year.
Squad - Axar Patel, Anureet Singh,
Beuran Hendricks, David Miller, George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh
Mann, Karanveer Singh, Manan Vora, Mitchell Johnson, Parvinder Awana, Rishi
Dhawan, Sandeep Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Shaun Marsh, Shivam Sharma, Thisara
Perera, Virender Sehwag, Wriddhiman Saha, Murali Vijay, Nikhil Naik,
Yogesh Golwalkar.
8. DELHI DAREDEVILS
Delhi
Daredevils have undergone such a major revamp in their squad this year. They
have retained only 11 members since last year. The daredevils have a good bunch
of all-rounders and are coached by Gary Kirsten. DD shall be able to make a
mark if and only if the team is able to work together.
Squad - JP Duminy, Keda Jadhav, Manoj Tiwary,
Mohammed Shami, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Quinton De Kock, Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz
Nadeem, Mayank Agarwal, Imran Tahir, Jayant Yadav, Angelo Mathews, Yuvraj
Singh, Amit Mishra, Jaydev Unadkat, Gurinder Sandhu, Shreyas Iyer, CM Gautam,
Dominic Muthuswamy, Albie Morkel, Travis
Head, Marcus Stoinis, Kona Srikar Bharat, KK Jiyaz, Zaheer Khan
The focus will now be on the IPL,
where talents from all across the world will showcase their talent in the
shortest format of the game.
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