Sport360's team-by-team guide to IPL 2015

Sport360 staff 15:57 08/04/2015
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  • IPL 2015 will be filled with the world's best players.

    Your all-inclusive preview to the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League, including history, squad lists and our very own Sport360 predictions.

    Chennai Super Kings
    No team boasts such an impressive record in the tournament as the Super Kings. They always enter all the Twenty20 events as favourites because they also have a strong squad which covers all bases, especially in Indian conditions. 

    Key players: McCullum, Dhoni, Raina, Bravo, Ashwin
    Big buys: Michael Hussey, Kyle Abbot, Irfan Pathan
    IPL record: Matches played 115, Won 69, Lost 44, Tied/ No result 2, Win percentage 60.96
    How they finished: Champions 2010, 2011, Runners-up 2008, 2012, 2013, Fourth 2009 Last season: Third 
    Sport360° view: Always the contenders, they are the team to beat. 

    Captain & Wicketkeeper: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
    Openers: Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum
    Middle-order batsmen: Michael Hussey, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Mithun Manhas, Baba Aparajith, Ankush Bains, Eklavya Dwivedi
    All-rounders: Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Pratyush Singh
    Pacers: Ashish Nehra, Mohit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Matt Henry, Kyle Abbott, Ronit More, Andrew Tye
    Spinners: Ravichandran Ashwin, Samuel Badree, Pawan Negi, Rahul Sharma
    Coach: Stephen Fleming

    Rajasthan Royals
    On paper they appear to have a formidable squad, banking heavily on an awesome array of foreign talent. Watson is spoilt for choice and will need to strike the right balance as only four overseas players can be on the park. Bowling is a weak link, but they bat deep. 

    Key players: Rahane, Faulkner
    Big buy: Chris Morris
    IPL record: Matches Played 104, Won 54, Lost 48, Tied 2, Win percentage 52.88
    How they finished: Champions 2008; Third 2013; Sixth 2009, 2011; Seventh 2010, 2012 Last season: Fifth 
    Sport360° view: The dangerous floaters who often manage to stay in the hunt. Should finish among the top five. 

    Captain: Shane Watson
    Openers: Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair
    Middle-order batsmen: Steven Smith, Rajat Bhatia
    Wicketkeepers: Sanju Samson, Dishant Yagnik
    All-rounders: Stuart Binny, Abhishek Nayar, James Faulkner, Chris Morris, Sagar Trivedi
    Pacers: Tim Southee, Ben Cutting, Juan Theron, Dhawal Kulkarni, Vikramjeet Malik
    Spinners: Pravin Tambe, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tewatia, Ankit Sharma, Dinesh Salunkhe, Pradeep Sahu, Barinder Saran
    Coach: Paddy Upton

    Mumbai Indians
    Their overall record in winning games is pretty impressive but that has not translated into titles. However, they always present a strong challenge to the contenders despite the odd wobble.

    Key players: Rohit, Pollard, Anderson, Harbhajan
    Big buys: Finch, McClenaghan
    IPL record: Matches played 110, Won 63, Lost 47, Win percentage 57.27
    How they finished: Champions 2013; Runners-up 2010; Third 2011; Fourth 2012; Fifth 2008; Seventh 2009; Last season: Fourth
    Sport360° view: The local talent does not match up to the foreign hands in the squad. Spot in the qualifiers at best.

    Captain: Rohit Sharma
    Openers: Lendl Simmons, Aaron Finch, Unmukt Chand
    Middle-order batsmen: Ambati Rayudu, Aiden Blizzard, Nitish Rana, Siddesh Lad 
    Wicketkeepers: Parthiv Patel, Aditya Tare
    All-rounders: Corey Anderson, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya
    Pacers: Lasith Malinga, Josh Hazlewood, Marchant de Lange, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vinay Kumar, Pawan Suyal
    Spinners: Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Shreyas Gopal, Akshay Wakhare, Jagadeesha Suchitch
    Coach: John Wright

    Royal Challengers Bangalore
    Any team that has Gayle, de Villiers and Kohli in the squad are serious contenders. However, they have fared miserably on most occasions and their failure to fire collectively as a team has hurt them often. But they possess too good a squad and success could just be around the corner.

    Key players: Gayle, de Villiers, Kohli, Starc
    Big buys: Darren Sammy, Dinesh Karthik, Sean Abbot, Adam Milne
    IPL record: Matches 108, Won 52, Lost 53, Tied/ No result 3, Win percentage 49.53 How they finished: Runners-up 2009, 2011; Third 2010; Fifth 2012, 2013; Seventh 2008 Last season: Seventh
    Sport360° view: They need to get some wins early to get going. The dark horses.

    Captain: Virat Kohli
    Openers: Chris Gayle, Nic Maddinson, Manvinder Bisla
    Wicketkeepers: Dinesh Karthik, AB de Villiers, Yogesh Takawale
    Middle-order batsmen: Rilee Rossouw, Subramaniam Badrinath, Mandeep Singh, Vijay Zol, Sarfaraz Khan, Shishir Bhavane
    All-rounders: Darren Sammy, David Wiese, Jalaj Saxena
    Pacers: Mitchell Starc, Adam Milne, Sean Abbot, Varun Aaron, Ashok Dinda, Abu Nechim, Sandeep Warrier, Harshal Patel,
    Spinners: Yuzvendra Chahal, Iqbal Abdulla
    Coach: Daniel Vettori

    Kolkata Knight Riders
    They are an in-form team having won 14 of their last 15 Twenty20 matches. The defending champions derive their strength from their bowling attack, the strongest in the league, backed by quality all-rounders and openers.

    Key players: Gambhir, Uthappa, Shakib, Morkel, Umesh, Narine
    Big buys: Brad Hogg
    IPL record: Matches played 104, Won 53, Lost 49, Tied 2, Win percentage 51.92
    How they finished: Champions 2012; Fourth 2011; Sixth 2008, 2010; Seventh 2013, Eighth 2009 Last season: Champions
    Sport360° view: Their batting is heavily dependent on the openers and if they falter then their campaign will be shaky. An encore looks tough but they should surely make the top four.

    Captain: Gautam Gambhir
    Wicketkeepers: Robin Uthappa, Sheldon Jackson
    Middle-order batsmen: Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Aditya Garhwal, Vaibhav Rawal
    All-rounders: Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Ryan ten Doeschate, Andre Russell, Azhar Mahmood, Sumit Narwal
    Pacers: Morne Morkel, Pat Cummins, Umesh Yadav, Veer Pratap Singh
    Spinners: Sunil Narine, Johan Botha, Piyush Chawla, Brad Hogg, Kuldeep Yadav, KC Cariappa
    Coach: Trevor Bayliss

    Kings XI Punjab
    They enlivened the proceedings last season with their enterprising brand of cricket. A redeeming feature of the squad is the Indian talent’s ability to step up and steal a march over their much-acclaimed overseas players. The Kings possess an exciting batting line-up, the best allrounder in the business and an effective bowling attack.

    Key players: Maxwell, Johnson, Patel
    Big buys: Murali Vijay
    IPL record: Matches played 106, Won 55, Lost 50, Tied 1, Win percentage 52.35
    How they finished: Third 2008; Fifth 2009, 2011; Sixth 2012, 2013; Eighth 2010 Last season: Runners-up
    Sport360° view: They have not tinkered much with the squad which means they will back themselves to go all the distance. Have the potential to lift the title this time.

    Captain: George Bailey
    Openers: Virender Sehwag, Murali Vijay
    Middle-order batsmen: Manan Vohra, Shaun Marsh, David Miller, Gurkeerat Mann Singh, Nikhil Naik
    Wicketkeeper: Wriddhiman Saha
    All-rounders: Glenn Maxwell, Thisara Perera, Rishi Dhawan
    Pacers: Mitchell Johnson, Beuran Hendricks, Sandeep Sharma, Parvinder Awana, Shardul Thakur, Anureet Singh
    Spinners: Axar Patel, Karanveer Singh, Shivam Sharma, Yogesh Golwalkar
    Coach: Sanjay Bangar

    Delhi Daredevils
    After a series of failures Delhi have gone in with a totally fresh squad buying 14 new players and dumping the 13 that did duty for them last season. They have managed to string together a strong bowling attack but the batting looks very weak in comparison.

    Key players: Mathews, Tahir 
    Big buys: Yuvraj, Albie Morkel, Zaheer
    IPL record: Matches 105, Won 44, Lost 59, Tied/ No result 2, Win percentage 42.78
    How they finished: Third 2009, 2012; Third 2010; Fifth 2012, 2013; Seventh 2008 Last season: Eighth
    Sport360° view: Despite the wholesale changes made to the squad, they still do not inspire confidence and will struggle to finish among the top five.

    Captain: Jean-Paul Duminy Openers: Quinton de Kock, Mayank Agarwal
    Middle-order batsmen: Manoj Tiwary, Travis Head, Saurabh Tiwary, Kedar Jadhav, Shreyas Iyer
    Wicketkeepers: CM Gautam, Srikar Bharat
    All-rounders: Angelo Mathews, Yuvraj Singh, Marcus Stoinis
    Pacers: Albie Morkel, Mohammad Shami, Nathan-Coulter Nile, Gurinder Sandhu, Zaheer Khan, Domnic Joseph, Jaidev Unadkat
    Spinners: Imran Tahir, Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem, Jayant Yadav, KK Jiyaz
    Coach: Gary Kirsten

    Sunrisers Hyderabad
    Another team that have made big changes by releasing 11 players into the auction pool. The Sunrisers have put together a decent squad but success is less than certain. Their batting is completely reliant on the overseas players and a bit top heavy, while their bowling is relatively well-stocked. Kevin Pietersen will only be available for the knockouts, which means captain David Warner has to fire regularly for them to have a say.

    Key players: Warner, Williamson, Dhawan, Ishant, Ojha
    Big buys: Pietersen, Boult
    IPL record: Matches played 31, Won 15, Lost 15, Tied 1, Win percentage 50.00
    How they finished: Fourth 2013 Last season: Sixth
    Sport360° view: If the batsmen flourish they have a chance to make the knockouts, otherwise it will be a struggle.  

    Captain: David Warner 
    Opener: Shikhar Dhawan Middle-order batsmen: Kane Williamson, Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, LK Rahul, Hanuma Vihari, Ricky Bhui
    Wicketkeepers: Naman Ojha
    All-rounders: Moises Henriques, Ravi Bopara, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Prasanth Padmanabhan
    Pacers: Dale Steyn, Trent Boult, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Siddharth Kaul, Chama Milind, Ashish Reddy
    Spinners: Parvez Rasool, Karn Sharma 
    Coach: Tom Moody

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