The IPL is by far the biggest T20 Franchise tournament in cricket, attracting the game's biggest stars from all over the world. It's big paydays alongside sell-out crowds guarantee a festival of cricket in the sport's newest and most exciting format.
The schedule and timing of this year's event has been the subject of much speculation with elections due to be held in India throughout the next few weeks, casting some doubt over whether the tournament would need to be shifted to another location. Thankfully, the administrators and civil servants have managed to put together a plan that allows the tournament to go ahead at venues across India with the first game taking place on 23rd March.
Strengths and Weaknesses
I wrote blogs on all 8 teams prior to the latest auction to assess which players they may look to purchase in November. With the deals completed and squads finalised here is an assessment of how CSK, DC, KXI and KKR will line-up in what should be a fascinating and very closely contested tournament.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
The defending champions have largely kept the same squad that they had last year and were fairly inactive in November's auction They did add former India international Mohit Sharma to their bowling ranks and entered into a bidding war to sign the left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat who ultimately went straight back to Rajasthan Royals.
My analysis of their squad prior to the auction suggested that there wasn't much that needed changing and so it proved to be. The real question then is can an ageing side be as effective as it was last year or is this one winter too many?
Question marks already exist over the form of MS Dhoni ahead of the World Cup that follows in May this year and another star player from 2018, Shane Watson (the only player to score 2 centuries last year) had a frustrating time of it in the recently completed Big Bash League. However, what CSK do have is great depth to their squad with options of the bench that most teams can only dream of so while the personnel may have stayed mainly the same from last year, we may see a few of the squad players being given greater opportunities in the starting 11 this time around.
Strengths
- Great All-Round options mean both batting and bowling have incredible depth
- Captain Dhoni has almost every conceivable bowling option to select from within the squad
- Experience! Dhoni, Watson, Raina, Bravo et al are some of the most experienced and successful players in the history of T20 cricket
Weaknesses
- Age - with a squad that has several members nearing the 40 years of age mark the question still remains as to when will these guys begin to fade
- No Fresh Faces - In any team, in any sport, it's all nice to freshen up the squad with a couple of new faces. CSK have chosen to stick with what they had let's see if they can deliver the same again
Delhi Capitals (DC)
A newly named franchise looking to turn around its previous poor form in the competition. Despite consistently underperforming in the IPL there are a lot of reasons for Delhi supporters to be positive about where the franchise is and where it could be in a few years time.
A strong core of Indian players from last year has been bolstered by a few new acquisitions that Delhi will hope to see hit the ground running. I had suggested in my preview that some middle/lower order hitting was required and Delhi have turned to South African Colin Ingram in that respect although it remains to be seen how he will go on the slower subcontinent pitches. Axar Patel and West Indian Sherfane Rutherford will also compete for those slots and bring with them an all-rounder option that could be crucial to Delhi's chances. Elsewhere Delhi decided to invest in Indian Test players Hanuma Vihari and Ishant Sharma. Both players skill set looks more suitable to the longer format of the game and we will have to see how Delhi decides to utilise these 2 players.
Strengths
- The core of Indian talent that will make up the top 4 (Shaw, Dhawan, Pant & Iyer) should give Delhi a platform to build on this year
- There is depth in their fast bowling options with Rabada & Boult being joined by the likes of Ishant Sharma and Keemo Paul
- They have the experienced Amit Mishra available and also Sandeep Lamichhane who impressed towards the end of last season and in this year's Big Bash
Weaknesses
- They are a young squad with a young captain and as we saw last season experience is a crucial part of winning in the IPL
- A lot of chopping and changing occurred during the off-season. Do they know their best team?
Kings XI Punjab (KXI)
After a good start last year, Kings XI faded badly towards the back end of the group stages and ultimately came up short in their quest to reach the final 4. Much of that early season form was built of the brilliance of KL Rahul who will need support this year if KingsXI are to reach their targets.
New Zealander Mike Henson has come in alongside 13 new players. We already knew that they would be in the market for wicketkeepers and an Indian fast bowler and in that respect West Indian Nicolas Pooran who played a couple of exciting innings in India last year as well as recently against India will be making his debut in the tournament and Mohammed Shami has returned to the fold following fitness issues this time last year.
Big money has been spent on the likes of young mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy and England all-rounder Sam Curran. Certainly, these 2 players represent exciting purchases by the franchise but the weight of expectation coupled with their inexperience within a struggling 11 means that there remain serious question marks over the KXI squad for this year's tournament.
Strengths
- In KL Rahul and AJ Tye they have 2 of the stars of IPL 2018
- On paper, their bowling line-up looks to have some good depth and variety
Weaknesses
- There are a lot of unknown quantities in the squad including big-money signing Sam Curran who is not even a regular in England's white ball squads
- As with Delhi, there have been so many changes to the squad that it's difficult to know what their best team is and if they don't find out quickly then they could be in a position where they need to play catch-up later in the tournament
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
KKR came up just short in their bid to win last year's tournament with the likes of Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Dinesh Karthik showing their skills in the shortest format of the game. Perhaps one of the biggest issues that KKR faced last year was burnout as they had the smallest squad in the competition (18 members). The likes of Dre Russell are already struggling for fitness this year as we saw in the white ball series with England earlier this month where Russell sat out all 8 matches due to a fitness concern. As such the need for KKR has been to build on what they already had as opposed to making radical changes and we have seen the likes of Joe Denly and Carlos Brathwaite (retained) come in to add cover.
Elsewhere, I successfully predicted that KKR would be in the market for some pace bowling and they did go onto secure the signing of New Zealand quick Lockie Ferguson who comes in for Mitchell Johnson. Last year KKR struggled to replace another Aussie left-armer in Mitchell Starc who pulled out late on with an injury and it looks as though KKR are seeking to back a few young Indian quicks to add depth to the squad this time around namely Pridish Kashana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Anrich Nortje, all of whom are capable of hitting speeds in excess of 140kmph.
Speaking of young Indian talent, I am really hopeful that we will see Shubman Gill promoted up the order this year as he has the potential to play for India and be a world beater all 3 formats of the game.
Strengths
- Hitting power - KKR have some of the biggest hitters around scattered throughout their batting lineup. If 1 or 2 of them fire then KKR are always in the hunt to put a big score on the board
- Spinning options - With Kuldeep Yadav, Sunil Narine and Piyush Chawla in the side there is no shortage of bowlers who can turn the ball both ways
Weaknesses
- Squad depth - as mentioned above the first 11 is good enough to beat anyone but in comparison to the likes of CSK, KKR have not shown the kind of depth which is needed towards the back end of the tournament
- Fast Bowling - Dre Russell can bring the heat when fit and Lockie Ferguson will have a big role to play in his first season with the franchise. Elsewhere the onus is on the youngsters to step up to the big time. Can they do it?
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