IPL 2020 Preview

With the IPL less than a day away and the excitement extremely palpable, I wanted to try my hand at formulating possible XIs for all the teams. Now before I start, this is purely my opinion and is based on what I know and what I perceive. It is obviously a highly debatable topic and some of the XIs may not be free from personal bias.

This IPL is highly anticipated for multiple reasons - proper source of entertainment after ages, every team is a strong contender for the title, amazing crop of young talent, new coaching staff, new strategies etc. Since I am trying to predict teams, I also want to spell out a few other gut instincts of mine. I feel a couple of teams might change captains halfway through the tournament, given the current form of the skippers. I also feel that the new faces are going to play a huge role in the tournament. Given the statistics and slow pitches of UAE, expect low scoring games and not 200+ every other match. Voicing out the next prediction is a huge risk but I am going on a limb and saying that the points table is going to surprise everyone.

A couple of other things before I begin. The success of these combinations completely depends on the form of the players. The English are in fine touch but the Aussies seem a bit rusty. The Windies are in the form of their life and the Proteas don’t seem all that bad either. We don’t know much about the Kiwis or the subcontinent teams. But since the majority of the players are from India, their performance can either make or break teams. One other factor to be considered is the fact that most of these players are not familiar with the conditions of the ground. Nevertheless, get ready for some thrilling high octane action!

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

1. Shane Watson

2. Faf du Plessis

3. Ambati Rayudu

4. Kedar Jadhav

5. M S Dhoni (C) (wk)

6. Ravindra Jadeja

7. Mitchell Santner

8. Dwayne Bravo/Sam Curran

9. Shardul Thakur

10. Deepak Chahar*

11. Piyush Chawla

1. Shane Watson

2. Murali Vijay

3. Faf du Plessis

4. Ruturaj Gaikwad*

5. M S Dhoni (C) (wk)

6. Kedar Jadhav

7. Ravindra Jadeja

8. Shardul Thakur

9. Deepak Chahar*

10. Lungi Ngidi/Josh Hazlewood

11. Imran Tahir

1. Shane Watson

2. Faf du Plessis

3. Ruturaj Gaikwad*

4. Ambati Rayudu

5. Kedar Jadhav

6. M S Dhoni (C) (wk)

7. Ravindra Jadeja

8. Dwayne Bravo/Sam Curran

9. Shardul Thakur

10. Deepak Chahar*

11. Imran Tahir

Other members of squad: N Jagadesan, Monu Kumar, Karn Sharma, K M Asif, R S Kishore

* assuming these players have recovered from Covid-19

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DELHI CAPITALS

1. Shikar Dhawan

2. Prithvi Shaw

3. Ajinkya Rahane

4. Shreyas Iyer (C)

5. Rishabh Pant (wk)

6. Marcus Stoinis

7. Keemo Paul

8. R Ashwin

9. Kagiso Rabada

10. Sandeep Lamichhane

11. Ishant Sharma/Mohit Sharma

1. Shikar Dhawan

2. Marcus Stoinis

3. Ajinkya Rahane/Prithvi Shaw

4. Shreyas Iyer (C)

5. Rishabh Pant (wk)

6. Harshal Patel

7. Axar Patel

8. R Ashwin

9. Daniel Sams/Anrich Nortje

10. Kagiso Rabada

11. Sandeep Lamichhane

1. Shikar Dhawan

2. Prithvi Shaw

3. Shimron Hetmyer

4. Shreyas Iyer (C)

5. Rishabh Pant (wk)

6. Alex Carey

7. R Ashwin

8. Daniel Sams/Anrich Nortje

9. Kagiso Rabada

10. Ishant Sharma/Mohit Sharma

11. Amit Mishra

Other members of the squad: Alex Carey, Lalit Yadav, Avesh Khan, Tushar Deshpande

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KINGS XI PUNJAB

1. K L Rahul (C)

2. Chris Gayle

3. Mayank Aggarwal/Karun Nair

4. Glenn Maxwell

5. Sarfaraz Khan

6. Nicholas Pooran (wk)

7. Krishnappa Gowtham

8. Ravi Bishnoi

9. Sheldon Cottrell/Chris Jordan

10. Mohammed Shami

11. Ishan Porel

1. K L Rahul (C)

2. Mayank Aggarwal

3. Karun Nair

4. Sarfaraz Khan

5. Glenn Maxwell

6. Nicholas Pooran (wk)

7. Krishnappa Gowtham

8. Sheldon Cottrell/Chris Jordan

9. Ravi Bishnoi/Murugan Ashwin

10. Mujeeb Ur Rahaman

11. Mohammed Shami

1. K L Rahul (C) (wk)

2. Karun Nair

3. Mayank Aggarwal

4. Sarfaraz Khan

5. Glenn Maxwell

6. James Neesham

7. Mandeep Singh

8. Krishnappa Gowtham

9. Sheldon Cottrell/Chris Jordan

10. Mohammed Shami

11. Mujeeb ur Rahaman

Other members of the squad: Deepak Hooda, Prabhsiman Singh, Tajinder Singh, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Jagadeesha Suchith, Hardus Viljoen

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KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

1. Sunil Narine

2. Shubman Gill

3. Nitish Rana

4. Eoin Morgan

5. Dinesh Karthik (C) (wk)

6. Andre Russell

7. Pat Cummins/Lockie Ferguson

8. Shivam Mavi/Kamlesh Nagarkoti

9. Kuldeep Yadav

10. Prasidh Krishna

11. Varun Chakravarthy

1. Sunil Narine

2. Shubman Gill

3. Eoin Morgan/Tom Banton

4. Dinesh Karthik (C) (wk)

5. Andre Russell

6. Nitish Rana

7. Rinku Singh

8. Pat Cummins/Lockie Ferguson

9. Shivam Mavi/Kamlesh Nagarkoti

10. Kuldeep Yadav

11. Prasidh Krishna

1. Tom Banton

2. Shubman Gill

3. Nitish Rana

4. Eoin Morgan

5. Dinesh Karthik (C) (wk)

6. Andre Russell

7. Pat Cummins/Lockie Ferguson

8. Shivam Mavi/Kamlesh Nagarkoti

9. Kuldeep Yadav

10. Prasidh Krishna

11. Varun Chakravarthy

Other members of the squad: Rahul Tripathi, Siddesh Lad, Nikhil Naik, Chris Green, Sandeep Warrier, Manimaran Siddharth, Harry Gurney, Ali Khan

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MUMBAI INDIANS

1. Quinton de Kock (wk)

2. Chris Lynn

3. Rohit Sharma (C)

4. Suryakumar Yadav

5. Kieron Pollard

6. Hardik Pandya

7. Krunal Pandya

8. Rahul Chahar

9. Dhawal Kulkarni

10. Trent Boult

11. Jasprit Bumrah

1. Quinton de Kock (wk)

2. Rohit Sharma (C)

3. Suryakumar Yadav

4. Ishan Kishan

5. Kieron Pollard

6. Hardik Pandya

7. Krunal Pandya

8. Nathan Coulter-Nile

9. Rahul Chahar

10. Trent Boult

11. Jasprit Bumrah

1. Rohit Sharma (C)

2. Chris Lynn

3. Suryakumar Yadav

4. Ishan Kishan (wk)

5. Kieron Pollard

6. Hardik Pandya

7. Sherfane Rutherford

8. Krunal Pandya

9. Rahul Chahar

10. Trent Boult

11. Jasprit Bumrah

Other members of the squad: Anmolpreet Singh, Aditya Tare, Saurabh Tiwary, Anukul Roy, Pince Balwant Rai, Jayant Yadav, James Pattinson, Mitchell McClenaghan, Digvijay Deshmukh, Mohsin Khan

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RAJASTHAN ROYALS

1. Jos Buttler (wk)

2. Robin Uthappa/Yashasvi Jaiswal

3. Steven Smith (C)

4. Sanju Samson

5. Ben Stokes**

6. Riyan Parag

7. Shreyas Gopal

8. Jofra Archer

9. Jayadev Unadkat

10. Mayank Markande

11. Varun Aaron/Kartik Tyagi

1. Jos Buttler (wk)

2. Robin Uthappa/Yashasvi Jaiswal

3. Steven Smith (C)

4. Sanju Samson

5. David Miller

6. Riyan Parag

7. Shreyas Gopal

8. Tom Curran

9. Jayadev Unadkat

10. Mayank Markande

11. Varun Aaron/Ankit Rajpoot

1. Jos Buttler (wk)

2. Manan Vohra/Yashasvi Jaiswal

3. Sanju Samson

4. Steven Smith (C)

5. Robin Uthappa

6. Ben Stokes**

7. Riyan Parag

8. Shreyas Gopal

9. Jofra Archer

10. Jayadev Unadkat

11. Mayank Markande

Other members of the squad: Shashank Singh, Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, Aniruddha Joshi, Andrew Tye, Rahul Tewatia, Oshane Thomas, Akash Singh

** assuming the player is available for the tournament

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ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE

1. Aaron Finch/Josh Phillippe (wk)

2. Parthiv Patel (wk)/Devdutt Padikkal

3. Virat Kohli (C)

4. A B de Villiers

5. Moeen Ali

6. Shivam Dube

7. Chris Morris/Isuru Udana

8. Washington Sundar/Shahbaz Ahmed

9. Umesh Yadav

10. Navdeep Saini

11. Yuzvendra Chahal

1. Aaron Finch

2. Devdutt Padikkal

3. Virat Kohli (C)

4. A B de Villiers (wk)

5. Shivam Dube

6. Gurkeerat S Mann

7. Chris Morris/Isuru Udana

8. Umesh Yadav

9. Navdeep Saini

10. Adam Zampa

11. Yuzvendra Chahal

1. Aaron Finch

2. Parthiv Patel (wk)

3. Devdutt Padikkal

4. Virat Kohli (C)

5. A B de Villiers

6. Moeen Ali

7. Shivam Dube

8. Umesh Yadav

9. Navdeep Saini

10. Dale Steyn

11. Yuzvendra Chahal

Other members of the squad: Pawan Negi, Pavan Deshpande, Mohammed Siraj, Karthik Meiyappan

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SUNRISERS HYDERABAD

1. David Warner (C)

2. Johnny Bairstow

3. Wriddhiman Saha (wk)

4. Manish Pandey

5. Vijay Shankar

6. Priyam Garg/Abdul Samad

7. Mitchell Marsh

8. Rashid Khan

9. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar

10. Khaleel Ahmed/Siddarth Kaul

11. Shahbaz Nadeem

1. David Warner (C)

2. Johnny Bairstow (wk)

3. Kane Williamson

4. Manish Pandey

5. Priyam Garg/Abdul Samad

6. Vijay Shankar

7. Virat Singh

8. Rashid Khan

9. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar

10. Khaleel Ahmed

11. Siddharth Kaul/Sandeep Sharma

1. Wriddhiman Saha (wk)

2. Johnny Bairstow

3. Kane Williamson (C)***

4. Manish Pandey

5. Vijay Shankar

6. Priyam Garg/Abdul Samad

7. Mohammad Nabi/Fabien Allen

8. Rashid Khan

9. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar

10. Khaleel Ahmed

11. Siddarth Kaul/Sandeep Sharma

Other members of the squad: Shreevats Goswami, Abishek Sharma, Bavanka Sandeep, Sanjay Yadav, Basil Thampi, Billy Stanlake, T Natrajan

*** very, very unlikely but hey, a girl can dream

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I have just provided three combinations that I think would work well. There are infinite number of combinations possible, each with its own pros and cons. But I do strongly believe that the players I have listed in the XIs have a higher chance of playing than the other players in the squad. Don't agree with me? Please do comment down your thoughts and XIs!!