While most Indians and the media
hype is surrounding the general elections in India, the seventh edition of the
IPL which kicked off in the United Arab Emirates is already over a week old.
With each team having played 2-3 games let’s look back at how each team has
fared.
1) KINGS
XI PUNJAB – THE “M” FACTOR – (3 wins out of 3)
Everything seems
to have been scripted to perfection for the Kings XI by the M Combo (Maxwell
& Miller). With 3 consecutive scores of 80 plus at a strike rate of above
200, Maxwell has really been the talking point in the first week of IPL. His approach
to the format with his ability and self-confidence to cleanly hit from the first ball he faces
makes him even more dangerous than someone like Chris Gayle. The addition of
game changers, Virender Sehwag and Mitchell Johnson are smart ones. The Kings
XI batting line up looks ominous with excellent bench strength. (Manan Vora
<retained>, Shaun Marsh <retained>, Mandeep Singh <right to
match card> & Gurkeerat Singh). The bowling has been led by the most
unlikely candidate, Akshar Patel who has quietly done his bit. Their weakness is
the lack of spinners in the squad.
2) CHENNAI
SUPER KINGS – ALWAYS MIGHTY (2 wins out of 3)
They have been
the most consistent team in this format over 6 years. In all of the six
previous editions, they have reached the top four. They have never changed the core of their team. After the Maxwell Mayhem,
they have comeback pretty well to win their next 2 games. Their biggest
strength has always been the captaincy of MS Dhoni and a strong never ending
batting line up. Their bowling attack has a perfect blend of seam and spin,
making them the team to beat on any surface. They played the auctions smartly by making additions of Dwayne Smith, B
McCullum & S Badree to their team. After retaining Dwayne Bravo, losing him
for the rest of IPL in a fielding injury in the first game could prove vital to
their balance.
3) ROYAL
CHALLENGERS BANGALORE – PARTY IS ON EVEN WITHOUT CHRIS GAYLE (2 wins out of 3)
The red hot
Kohli led side began well with back to back wins to this edition of the IPL before they pulled off a shocking defeat from the jaws of victory against KKR. They could easily be labelled
as “South Africa” of the IPL. Most of the times, it has been the big stars
delivering for them. But this time round, there have been notable contributions
from the younger Indians. The ex Mumbai Indian, Y Chahal having spent a lot of
time with Anil Kumble has learnt a few tricks about leg spin. In his first two
games, he didn’t even conceded a single boundary in his eight overs. Varon
Aaron has been impressive with his aggression and raw pace. Parthiv Patel has
made important contributions at the top. Yuvraj Singh striking back some form
after his sluggish innings in the World Cup Final would be very heartening for
the RCB camp after his heavy bidding at the auction. The return of Chris Gayle
will only add to their batting firepower. Their weakness is that they have a very long
tail for this format.
4) KOLKATA
KNIGHT RIDERS – UP AND DOWN (2 wins out of 3)
They are having
a see-saw time at the IPL. Their biggest
strength has been the quality of all-rounders in their ranks. Jacques Kallis
seems to be like French wine, he only gets better with age. Last edition they lacked depth in
fast bowlers department. With the additions of M Morkel, U Yadav & P Cummings, they seem to have covered that base. One of their turn-around stars, Sunil Narine
continues to be their go to man in this format. Chris Lynn, who had a good Big
Bash League left Virat Kohli’s boys shell shocked with his stunning catch on
the boundary which decided the fate of that encounter. The inclusions of Manish
Pandey, Robin Uthappa & Suryakumar Yadav has strengthened their Indian
batting. Gautam Gambhir would be itching for some runs after this three
consecutive ducks as time is running out for the discard opener to make a way
back into the blue colours. Their weakness is the lack of a world class
finisher, there is no way they can rely on Yusuf Pathan.
5) RAJASTHAN
ROYALS – PERENNIAL UNDERDOGS (1 win out of 3)
They are one
side who have always been underdogs. They have had a sloppy start to this year
but write them off at your peril. They have always utilized their minimum
resources to maximum results. I tend to compare RR with a jigsaw puzzle where
each piece is taken care for the entire picture. Players who are benched with
the big franchises find themselves with adequate opportunities to play here. In the
last edition of IPL, the leadership of Rahul Dravid has been instrumental in
grooming some of younger Indian players. Retaining smaller
Indian cricket names like Ajinkya Rahane, Stuart Binny & Sanju Samson
speaks a lot about their culture. The addition of the dynamic Steve Smith &
canny Rajat Bhatia is welcomed. Their biggest strength is their long batting
line up. One of their aces in the last
edition, James Faulkner has been in scratchy form since the world cup.
6) DELHI
DAREDEVILS – DISSAPPOINTING AGAIN (1 win out of 3)
They had a very
disappointing IPL last year. They were only team not to retain any player
before the auctions, desparate to start a fresh. Appointing one of the greatest
minds of the game, Gary Kirsten as their coach was signs of brighter days
ahead. But well, they looked very confused at the auctions having the largest
purse, making them unsure which players to bid and which to let go. The in form
JP Duminy has been their crisis man who has played brilliantly. Murali Vijay
has continued to be the scratchy himself. Dinesh Karthik made the headlines with his bid at
auction; DD will be hoping he does the same with his performance. The injury to
Kevin Pieterson has only added to their woes. Going by his personality, he is
one who can reverse their fortunes.
7) MUMBAI
INDIANS – CLUELESS CHAMPIONS (0 wins out of 2)
After a fitting
farewell for the legend Sachin Tendulkar, Mumbai Indians are looking nowhere
close to looking like champions. Looking
at the potential destructive power of Glen Maxwell with KXIP, the MI think tank
will feel they really missed out on something big. As always MI sign the latest
headline maker, Corey Anderson. And this
time he finds a place in the XI. Unfortunately he has been
disappointing in the first two games. Michael Hussey seems to be having batting
blues without yellow colour. Losing two
Indian batsmen (Sachin Tendulkar & Dinesh Karthik) from the last edition is a big blow to them. Their weakness in the batting depth has been exposed not
having enough good quality batsmen. After their first loss, it was surprising to see MI
adding a fifth specialist bowler despite having two all-rounders. That shows the lack of faith in all round
abilities of Corey Anderson & the batting ability of CM Gautam after just one
game. To turn things around Mumbai
Indians needs their best batsmen, i.e. their captain Rohit Sharma & Kieron
Pollard to bat higher. The ever reliable Lasith Malinga will surely be missed once he
leaves for national duty after about 6 games.
8) SUNRISERS
HYDERABAD – BOWLING POWERHOUSE (0 wins out of 2)
What batting means to Chennai, bowling means to Hyderabad. In the last edition they were
pretty much written off by experts going into tournament. But their never say
die attitude in defending low totals was instrumental in their turnaround. Even
in this year, they go into the tournament with one of most envied bowling
attacks. Their weakness continues to be their batting, which is highly dependent on the
top 3 (Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner and Aaron Finch). I think they missed out a
trick by not retaining JP Duminy. Having so many world class bowling options (D
Steyn, B Kumar, A Mishra, I Sharma, D Sammy, I Pathan, K Sharma) makes selecting
an XI for SH a full time headache. If the top 3, who are all potential match
winners get back into scoring runs, SH could well be the team to beat.
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