IPL 2018 guide: Team-by-team analysis ahead of the new season

With IPL XI now almost upon us, the 578 payday hopefuls have been whittled down to the chosen few via this year’s ground breaking IPL auction.

The mass jettisoning of players set to take place after the competition’s tenth edition prompted an inevitable backlash from team owners desperate to keep hold of their big telent. Each team, as a result, has been allowed to retain three players.

Strong local talent, depth in key departments and an experienced senior playing group go a long way historically in the IPL, and the contract cycle change will likely highlight the teams who can gel their playing group together quickly.

We take a look at each team’s chances and the business they’ve done, in The Independent’s IPL 2018 preview.

Chennai Super Kings

The prodigal son returns (well, one of two). CSK are back following two years on the betting scandal ‘naughty step’, with Stephen Fleming the man tasked with ensuring their return is a fruitful one. Historically, the Super Kings have been perennially strong. The experience in their line up bodes particularly well for CSK fans, with MS Dhoni leading a side that includes Suresh Raina, Ravi Jadeja and Faf Du Plessis as well as Harbhajan Singh, who returns from Mumbai Indians. IPL and global T20 experience is a base they have covered, with the dynamism of Sam Billings and South African quick Lungisani Ngidi adding a new dimension. South Africa’s leg spinner Imran Tahir will be looking for another big year, with exuberant celebrations a likely side effect.

Tournament Chances: There or there abouts. Team Rating = 7/10

Player to watch: Lungisani Ngidi – Right Arm Bullets from roughly 9ft.

CSK will always have a puncher's chance with Dhoni at the helm (Getty)

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Last year was one to forget, which is easier to do when you’ve got a fresh crop of talent to choose from. Coach Daniel Vettori will be desperate to foster some success after the 2017 season saw their big batting canons misfire repeatedly on a home pitch which lost its usual flatness. Three time finalists, they’ll be looking for a better showing from messrs Kohli, De Villiers and McCullum this time round. Pawan Negi stood out in a poor 2017 campaign, with his darting left arm spin a real asset. The key will be whether Vetorri can keep a more settled line up and get his big guns firing. In Chris Woakes and Corey Anderson, they have two more match winners capable of coping with extreme pressure.

Tournament Chances: Middling, based on history. Team Rating = 6/10

Player to watch: Partiv Patel – not a shirt seller, but 8th in last year’s batting list.

Delhi Daredevils

Daredevils coach Ricky Ponting, a man who openly admits he didn’t take T20 overly seriously as a player, has become a sought after commodity as a short format coach. Cricket Australia want him, Mumbai Indians won with him, and he takes on the coaching ‘poison chalice’ at Delhi. One of the more versatile teams, all-rounders such as Chris Morris and Dan Christian provide excellent support for the more explosive Jason Roy and Colin Munro. Glenn Maxwell will undoubtedly insist on not wearing a helmet, smiting as he goes. With the ball, Delhi have real class. Kagiso Rabada adds genuine pace to an attack boasting Mohammed Shami, Trent Boult and Amit Mishra. Leg spinner Mishra will be looking to improve on his 2017 showing.

Tournament Chances: Ponting factor aside, nothing more than ok. Team Rating = 6.5/10

Player to watch: Kagiso Rabada – just 6 games last year, and in some form.

Ponting could help Delhi make a few headlines (Getty)

Mumbai Indians

Last year’s winners have recruited well this year. Rohit Sharma has been retained, and they are blessed with depth in key areas. Pat Cummins is a class act, but this will be a test of his reserves after intense workloads against England and South Africa this winter. That depth could indeed prove vital. Jasprit Bumrah is a top addition with 20 wickets at 7.35 an over last year, his quirky action belying serious pace. Most importantly, they have players coming in with form. Evin Lewis scored well in the World Cup Qualifiers, whilst JP Duminy has had an excellent PSL campaign. Nothing to suggest, on paper, that they can’t challenge again this year.

Tournament Chances: Unsurprisingly strong. World class local players. Team Rating = 8/10

Player to watch: Hardik Pandya – hitting form and getting used to being the ‘go to man’ for India.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Simon Katich has assembled a backroom staff second to none, a vital component to success when personnel change is as wholesale as it is this year. The squad itself is a balance of IPL stalwarts in Piyush Chawla and Sunil Narine combined with firepower with the likes of Mitchell Starc and Chris Lynn in the ranks. Robin Uthappa is arguably an IPL great, a consistent top order whacker who made last year’s batting top ten. This is a small squad - just 19 of the possible 25 spots have been filled - but they’ll be hoping their pace with bat and ball will make an impact early in the tournament. Nitish Rana racked up 437 runs last year in an impressive campaign, and Javon Searles arrives courtesy of injuries and a strong personal showing at the latest CPL.

Tournament Chances: Dinesh Karthik has some sharp tools at his disposal making Kolkata contenders. Team Rating = 7.5/10

Player to watch: Nitish Rana – in some great form in domestic cricket and a top IPL X last year.

Narine is an IPL veteran and is always dangerous (AFP)

Rajasthan Royals

They’ve been in the news. Thanks, Steve. They’ve also been into their pockets. Looking for a new captain a week out from the start of a tournament isn’t ideal, but Rajasthan have added Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and T20 firebrand Jofra Archer to the mix, which will help. Back after their own hiatus, Rajasthan have a squad full of match winners led by Ajinkya Rahane. Shane Warne will add some IPL experience, having won the inaugural IPL with RR back in 2008. Archer has to be the key man. His Big Bash exploits saw his social media following and cash value grow exponentially, with England clamouring to do whatever they can to fast-track his England eligibility. Captain Rahane has been a consistent IPL run scorer, and adding the firepower they have with Stokes and Buttler could make up for a lack of depth. Jaydev Unadkat, who took 24 wickets for Rising Pune Supergiants in 2017, adds variety to the Royals’ attack.

Tournament Chances: Unlikely, dangerous underdogs. Team Rating = 6.5/10

Player to watch: Jofra Archer – his first IPL. He’ll want to ensure he does enough to return next year unlike his Sussex teammate, Tymal Mills ($1M man last year).

Kings XI Punjab

Management of big players, and their egos, is a challenge magnified by tournaments like the IPL. Yuvraj Singh and Chris Gayle are two of the biggest names in world cricket, and Ravichandran Ashwin will be hoping coaches Brad Hodge and Virender Sehwag can assist in keeping the squad together. They’ve added international experience in Karun Nair and KL Rahul, having had three poor years. In Mohit Sharma and Andrew Tye, they have two very skilled and battle hardened T20 bowlers. David Miller, Aaron Finch and Manoj Tiwary provide additional clout to accompany Singh and Gayle. The key could be Gayle’s form. His recent ton at the World Cup qualifiers was his 23rd in ODIs, and a timely reminder that the 38 year old is a bit of a bargain here.

Tournament Chances: Batting heavy, with promise. Team Rating = 7/10

Player to watch: Barinder Sran – likened to Zaheer Khan by his teammate, Yuvraj Singh, Sran’s height makes him a tricky prospect for those looking to get after him.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

It remains to be seen whether David Warner will be at the helm, with Australia’s pious and vociferous defender of cricket’s values caught up in the recent ball tampering scandal. That aside, this is the strongest squad going this year. Tom Moody brings an abundance of T20 experience, and Sunrisers Hyderabad have the varied attack to adapt to different surfaces. In Billy Stanlake, they have a man capable of thunderbolts – impressive in the most recent Big Bash for the Adelaide Strikers. Spin options are plentiful with Shakib Al Hasan, Afghan superstar Rashid Khan and Mehdi Hasan of Bangladesh bolstering the ranks. Chris Jordan is great at the death, and electric in the field. In Warner and Shikhar Dhawan, they have the potential for consistent, blistering starts – although Warner’s form will be a concern. Kane Williamson and the experience of Mohammad Nabi gives them a strong chance.

Tournament Chances: Altogether, promising. Team Rating = 8.5/10

Player to watch: Billy Stanlake – just two games in 2017, he’s capable of making a real impact with the ball this year. He also goes at 6.77 per over in Big Bash Cricket, which is exceptional.

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The more some things change, the more they stay the same. The Indian Premier League , was conceived as a cuttingedge tournament, something so audacious in scope that it had not been attempted in any seriousness till Lalit Modi came along. With the might of the Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI ) behind him, and promises of multi-million dollar contracts, cricket’s Mary Shelley unleashed a summer Frankenstein on the world.In the years that the IPL has been in existence it has done many things. It has made millionaires of journeymen cricketers, it has given coaches a new stage to showcase their wares, it has allowed limited cricketers to earn massive paychecks in the auction and, it has held a mirror to the cricket world. In 2008, when the IPL began, there was an air of freshness, a complete newness to the tournament. Even the people involved in running the tournament had no idea how it might pan out.Cut to 2018, and there are some maddeningly repeatable things: MS Dhoni is back at Chennai Super Kings; Shane Warne is hugging the Rajasthan Royals; Gautam Gambhir is a Delhi Daredevil, captain, at that; Yuvraj Singh wears the pink and silver of Kings XI Punjab.This is exactly what the cricketing landscape was like in 2008. When the fresh season begins, there are many things that will be, and feel, different, and here are the most critical ones:There hasn’t been a single edition of the tournament when each team was captained by an Indian. 2018 came close, with Sunrisers Hyderabad losing David Warner to Sandpapergate. Bhuvneshwar Kumar might well have been given charge of the team, but Kane Williamson was the management’s choice. With the IPL being so much about workload management and recovery, perhaps the franchise believed that it was not a good idea to add the captaincy burden to their top medium-pacer.And not a penny less than Rs 7.2 crore for Archer. Not Jeffrey, but Jofra. At 23, this allrounder with a fluid action and bat-speed that is typical to his hometown of Barbados, is not eligible to play international cricket. Having chosen to qualify for England, turning his back on West Indies, Archer can showcase his talents in T20 leagues even before he is available for national selection. Archer, who was picked up by the Rajasthan Royals , and is sure to be central to their plans, described his IPL selection as a “lifechanging” moment.The debate over Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s future in Indian cricket has reached fever pitch, especially after Dinesh Karthik proved to be such a star finisher in the Nidahas Trophy tri-series in Sri Lanka. But, when Dhoni marched to the podium in army colours to receive his Padma Bhushan award, the sight of him in uniform, and his loyalty to the cause, was something else. Similarly, when the Chennai Super Kings take the field, the fact that they have their lion in yellow in harness means the world to their loyal fans.The Decision Review System has been in place in different series in cricket for a while now. Twenty20 cricket, which was designed for pace and ease of viewing, was exempt from these stoppages and delays in the game. Yet, the IPL, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to introduce this form of adjudication in the 2018 edition. How will this change things? Previously rain-interrupted late games would finish after midnight. Now we may have night-day matches instead of day-night.For the first time in the IPL’s history, teams will have an opportunity to re-think their theories and strategies in the middle of their campaign. The Governing Council has allowed a five-day transfer window in the middle of the tournament, where uncapped players who have featured in two or fewer games, to be picked up by other teams. This means that each team has a chance to boost its reserves, while players who were simply warming the bench get more chances of actually playing. That can only be a good thing.

IPL 2018

IPL 2018 - That Happened

Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on Sat, 07 Apr, 2018, 11:14 AM

Wedding bells: So Finch and Maxwell won't be playing tomorrow

More wishes: Here's Mr. Sachin wishing Mumbai Indians ahead of their encounter today

Special words from the MI Icon! ???? @sachin_rt's wishes will surely boost the team. ????#CricketMeriJaan pic.twitter.com/Ehk3GFMEi9 — Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 7, 2018

Preity Zinta wishing KXIP

Trip down the memory lane

On this day in 2013, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore fought tooth and nail in Hyderabad before the former prevailed in the Super over.

Initially, Royal Challengers' formidable batting line-up comprising Gayle, Dilshan, Kohli and co. was restricted to just 130 for 8 in their allotted 20 overs. Kohli top-scored with 46 while Henriques compiled a useful 44.

The Hyderabad franchise too struggled on a sluggish wicket. Hanuma Vihari led the way for them with an assured 44. It all came down to the final over with Sunrisers needing just seven for a victory. However, Vinay Kumar, who had already bowled a crucial last over versus Mumbai Indians to defend 10 runs, continued to impress.

The gritty pacer used slower ones and the occasional yorker, and gave away just six as the nail-biter went to a Super over. In the subsequent Super over, White landed a couple of sixes of a crestfallen Vinay, while Steyn was able to restrict the marauding duo of Gayle and Kohli to just 15 as Sunrisers clinched a thriller by five runs!

Build Up

With the 11th edition of the IPL about to kick-off, frenzied fans across the length and breadth of the country are buzzing with excitement. From offices, bus-stands, or while travelling in a tuk-tuk, cricket lovers have expert opinions on who will hoist the trophy. Fans fiercely argue and debate about team combinations and who should play.

On hot days of Indian summer, serpentine queues would be seen at stadiums, with cops having a tough time to control the crowd. Every year, IPL rekindles the sheer passion in cricket fans.

After what is expected to be a glitzy and glamorous opening ceremony, arch-rivals, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, will lock horns in the opening encounter of IPL 2018 at the furnace of the Wankhede stadium.

So are you ready for another blockbuster season of the IPL?

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