Sport360°’s Ajit Vijaykumar takes a closer look at the nine Indian Premier League teams eyeing glory with Twenty20 vision.
He looks at the movers and shakers, assesses each of the teams’ chances in this the competition’s sixth edition and looks at the respected squads.
DELHI DAREDEVILS
They assembled a sensational lineup last season and looked ready for their maiden IPL title. But they didn’t even reach the final.
This time, the Daredevils have been weakened by the unavailability of Kevin Pietersen (injury) and Jesse Ryder (hospitalisation). They still rely heavily on pace bowlers but Johan Botha should give them the reliable slow bowling option. Virender Sehwag’s form is a cause for concern.
Key players: Skipper Mahela Jayawardene (right), Sehwag & David Warner make a strong batting line-up.
Additions: Left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra and South African spinner Johan Botha.
Track record: Somehow, have never made it to the final.
Sport360° view: The law of average dictates that such a talented side will eventually achieve their potential. Should enter final.
SQUAD
Openers: Virender Sehwag, David Warner
Middle-order: Mahela Jayawardene, Manprit Juneja, Gulam Bodi, Unmukt Chand, Kedar Jadhav, Yogesh Nagar, Venugopal Rao.
All-rounders: Johan Botha, Pawan Negi, Sujit Nayak, Irfan Pathan, Andre Russell, Roelof van der Merwe.
Wicketkeeper: Muralidharen Gautam, Naman Ojha.
Pacers: Ajit Agarkar, Siddarth Kaul, Morne Morkel, Royston Dias, Ashish Nehra, Umesh Yadav.
Spinners: Jeevan Mendis, Shahbaz Nadeem, Aristh Singhvi.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
Taking over from the defunct Deccan Chargers, the new owners of the Hyderabad franchise have one advantage – the level of expectations is very low. Deccan endured successive defeats across editions and the Sunrisers can’t possibly fare worse.
The Sunrisers have retained a chunk of the Deccan players and will play at the ‘unlucky for hosts’ Uppal Stadium. Best of luck.
Key players: Skipper Kumar Sangakkara (right) and India’s man of the moment – Shikhar Dhawan, when he is fit, will be crucial.
Additions: Apart from the 20 Deccan players, they took allrounders Perera and Sammy.
Track record: Previous outfit – Deccan Chargers – won in 2009, but very erratic.
Sport360° view: Deccan’s fortunes swung so wildly, one doesnt know if a new name would make any difference as it’s the same set of players.
SQUAD
Openers: Shikhar Dhawan, Parthiv Patel (wk)
Middle-order: Kumar Sangakkara, Cameron White, Biplab Samatray, Ravi Teja, Hanuma Vihari, Akshath Reddy.
All-rounders: Darren Sammy, Thisara Perera, Christopher Lynn, Karn Sharma, Nathan McCullum
Wicketkeeper: Quinton de Kock.
Pacers: Dale Steyn, Anand Rajan, Veer Pratap Singh, Ishant Sharma, Sudeep Tyagi, Ashish Reddy, Clint McKay.
Spinners: Amit Mishra, Ankit Sharma, Sachin Rana, Thalaivan Sargunam.
KINGS XI PUNJAB
One of the weakest sides in the tournament, Punjab simply don’t exude confidence. Captain Adam Gilchrist has the unenviable task of rallying the troops and getting the maximum out of the players.
The side depends heavily on its overseas pool and it’s high time the Indian players stepped up. Kings XI didn’t make any attractive acquisitions for this season and will rely on familiar faces.
Key players: The wily David Hussey and ever-reliable Azhar Mahmood will carry the load.
Additions: Uncapped pacer Sandeep Sharma and hardhitting batsman Luke Pomersbach look good enough reinforcements.
Track record: Semi-finals in 2008 and that’s it.
Sport360° view: They have never looked like title challengers. Lack of big hitters or strike bowlers makes Punjab a lightweight opponent.
SQUAD
Openers: Adam Gilchrist (wk), Shaun Marsh, Paul Valthaty.
Middle-order: David Hussey, David Miller, Siddharth Chitnis, Nitin Saini, Sunny Singh, Paul Valthaty, Luke Pomersbach, Gurkeerat Singh, Manan Vohra.
All-rounders: Dimitri Mascarenhas, Azhar Mahmood, Mandeep Singh, Bipul Sharma, Rajagopal Sathish.
Pacers: Ryan Harris, Praveen Kumar, Manpreet Gony, Harmeet Singh, Parvinder Awana, Sandeep Sharma, Aniket Choudhary.
Spinners: Piyush Chawla, Bhargav Bhatt.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
The Knight Riders endured a lot of heartache before finally tasting title glory last season. Who can forget the ‘Fake IPL player’ saga of 2009?
With the aggressive Gautam Gambhir in charge, the Knight Riders delivered in 2012 and will carry that confidence into 2013. But with that comes the added pressure of being the defending champions.
Key players: Gambhir’s leadership is crucial, alongwith Brett Lee as the bowling spearhead and mentor.
Additions: Another mystery tweaker – Sachitra Senanayake – to add to Sunil Narine.
Track record: Finally won the IPL in 2012. Finished fourth in 2011.
Sport360° view: Now that the Knight Riders have tasted success, they can start to expect it as they have always had the talent and flair.
SQUAD
Openers: Gautam Gambhir, Brendon McCullum (wk).
Middle-order: Debabrata Das, Eoin Morgan, Manoj Tiwary.
All-rounders: Rajat Bhatia, Jacques Kallis, Ryan McLaren, Yusuf Pathan, Sachithra Senanayake, Shakib Al Hasan, Laxmi Shukla, Ryan ten Doeschate.
Wicketkeepers: Manvinder Bisla, Brad Haddin.
Pacers: L Balaji, Brett Lee, James Pattinson, Pradeep Sangwan, Shami Ahmed.
Spinners: Sarabjit Ladda, Iqbal Abdulla, Sunil Narine.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
Chennai is the power centre of Indian cricket and the Super Kings the jewel in that crown. They have dominated the event since the first edition and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has forged a winning formula.
With the Sri Lankans barred from playing in Chennai, the Super Kings will take on weakened opponents at home which will make their task that much easier. They also have two of the best spinners in their ranks – Ashwin and Jadeja.
Key players: It was, is and always shall be Captain Cool – MS Dhoni. Faf du Plessis and Mike Hussey add solidity to the batting.
Additions: Pacer Dirk Nannes and all-rounder Chris Morris – worth $625,000 (Dh2.2m) – will be a boost for Chennai.
Track record: Four-time finalists, two-time winners. IPL kings.
Sport360° view: They have a lot going in their favour, including the rules. One can’t imagine an IPL without Chennai among the top four.
SQUAD
Openers: Srikkanth Anirudha, Murali Vijay
Middle-order: MS Dhoni (wk), Baba Aparajith, Subramaniam Badrinath, Faf du Plessis, Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina.
All-rounders: Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Albie Morkel, Chris Morris, Vijay Shankar
Wicketkeeper: Wriddhiman Saha
Pacers: Ben Hilfenhaus, Jason Holder, Imtiaz Ahmed, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ben Laughlin, Ronit More, Dirk Nannes, Ankit Rajpoot, Mohit Sharma.
Spinners: Ravichandran Ashwin, Akila Dananjaya, Shadab Jakati, R Karthikeyan
MUMBAI INDIANS
One of the most flamboyant sides in the tournament, the Mumbai Indians are overflowing with stars. Their overseas players roster has some of the best T20 exponents and the local players aren’t too bad either, with Tendulkar, Sharma and Rayudu in their ranks.
Under new captain Ponting, the Indians will be looking to address the one issue they have – a problem of plenty.
Key players: The presence of Sachin Tendulkar and the power of Kieron Pollard and Lasith Malinga can do wonders.
Additions: Picking Ricky Ponting and appointing him as captain is a very good move.
Track record: Made it to the 2010 final. Tendulkar played despite a hand injury but it wasn’t enough.
Sport360° view: One gets a feeling this will be Mumbai’s year. They have the players, the leadership and spark.
SQUAD
Openers: Sachin Tendulkar, Aiden Blizzard
Middle-order: Ricky Ponting, Phillip Hughes, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav.
All-rounders: Amitoze Singh, Rishi Dhawan, James Franklin, Glenn Maxwell, Jacob Oram, Kieron Pollard, Jalaj Saxena, Dwayne Smith.
Wicketkeeper: Dinesh Karthik, Sushant Marathe, Aditya Tare
Pacers: Mitchell Johnson, Abu Nechim, Nathan Coulter- Nile, Dhawal Kulkarni, Lasith Malinga, Munaf Patel, Pawan Suyal.
Spinners: Yuzvendra Chahal, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha.
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
The Royal Challengers have become an extremely consistent side after the disastrous debut of 2008. Chris Gayle is their obvious trump card, but captain Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers aren’t too far behind either.
The platform is set for Cheteshwar Pujara to make his mark in the T20 format too, after his scorching form in Tests.
Key players: With Gayle in your side, cricket seems easy. Additions: Aussie all-rounder Moises Henriques is an all-inone package.
Track record: The two-time runners-up had their best chance in 2011 but fell short.
Sport360° view: RCB have some serious batting firepower. But weak bowling could hold them back again.
SQUAD
Openers: T Dilshan, Chris Gayle.
Middle-order: Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarwal, AB de Villiers (wk), Sheldon Jackson, Abhinav Mukund, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sunny Sohal, Saurabh Tiwary, Vijay Zol.
All-rounders: Chris Barnwell, Daniel Christian, Moises Henriques, Andrew McDonald, Karun Nair.
Wicketkeeper: Arun Karthik.
Pacers: S Aravind, Zaheer Khan, Abhimanyu Mithun, P Parameswaran, Harshal Patel, Pankaj Singh, Ravi Rampaul, Sandeep Warrier, RP Singh, Jaydev Unadkat, Vinay Kumar.
Spinners: KP Appanna, Murali Kartik, M Muralitharan, Syed Mohammad, Daniel Vettori.
RAJASTHAN ROYALS
The surprise winners of the opening season, the Royals are among the minnows who pose a constant threat. Led by Rahul Dravid, there is a sense of calm when the team operates.
They do have some old legs in Dravid, Brad Hogg, Brad Hodge and Owais Shah but they are proven performers. Rajasthan have good quick bowlers, but haven’t had many frontline spinners since the end of Shane Warne’s tenure.
Key players: Watson will add a lot of muscle to their batting and maybe bowling.
Additions: Watch out for India’s U-19 World Cup winning spinner Harmeet Singh
Track record: Winners in 2008. Have underachieved since then.
Sport360° view: The Royals are the perennial dark horses and their bits-and-pieces players perform rather well.
SQUAD
Openers: Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson.
Middle-order: Rahul Dravid, Ankeet Chavan, Brad Hodge, Sachin Baby, Sanju Samson, Owais Shah.
All-rounders: Stuart Binny, Ajit Chandila, Kevon Cooper, James Faulkner, Ashok Menaria.
Wicketkeeper: Shreevats Goswami, Kusal Perera, Dishant Yagnik.
Pacers: Fidel Edwards, Rahul Shukla, Amit Singh, Sreesanth, Shaun Tait, Siddharth Trivedi.
Spinners: Samuel Badree, Harmeet Singh, Brad Hogg.
PUNE WARRIORS
In their third season, Pune Warriors will be hoping to show some fight. Yuvraj Singh is back in the fold so that should be good news.
Pune have a good-looking line-up and have parted ways with Sourav Ganguly, which means some peaceful times in the dressing room. But winning is not a habit for the Warriors.
Key players: In the absence of Michael Clarke, the burden of leadership will be on the young shoulders of Angelo Mathews.
Additions: Ross Taylor beefs up the batting. Aaron Finch comes in for Clarke.
Track record: Fared badly the last two seasons, losing 20 of the 29 games.
Sport360° view: More of the same can be expected. They never look a settled outfit and have very few ‘big’ names.
SQUAD
Openers: Tamim Iqbal, Aaron Finch
Middle-order: Angelo Mathews, Udit Birla, Dheeraj Jadhav, Anustup Majumdar, Mithun Manhas, Manish Pandey, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, T Suman, Ross Taylor, Robin Uthappa.
All-rounders: Raiphi Gomez, Mitchell Marsh, Abhishek Nayar, Marlon Samuels, Parvez Rasool, Luke Wright, Yuvraj Singh.
Wicketkeeper: Eklavya Dwivedi, Mahesh Rawat
Pacers: Ashok Dinda, Harpreet Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishwar Pandey, Wayne Parnell, K Upadhyay, Shrikant Wagh.
Spinners: Ajantha Mendis, Ali Murtaza, Rahul Sharma.
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