IPL is almost upon us. With the schedule finally announced it looks like the games will go ahead with the initial plan. Coronavirus gave a scare at the beginning and had us fearing for the worst. As players in CSK camp were getting infected it looked like the tournament might get scrapped. Players have now settled into their routine and are following COVID-19 protocols which are a good sign for the fans around the world. With just 5 days to go, we’ve come up with IPL predictions. Below we’ll look at which team has the best chance to win IPL 2020 based on their strength and weaknesses.
Chennai Super Kings
Full Squad: MS Dhoni, Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Mitchell Santner, Lungi Ngidi, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, M Vijay, Josh Hazlewood, Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh, Narayan Jagadeesan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KM Asif, Karn Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Monu Kumar, Sai Kishore.
Why CSK will win IPL 2020: This team is a serial winner. Reaching semi-finals is a walk in the park for CSK as it has done so in all of the previous competitions. CSK is the only team to reach 8 out of 13 IPL that have been played so far. MS Dhoni always manages to make this team bigger than the sum of its parts. Dhoni has taken retirement from international cricket a decision that would free his mind even more and you know what’s better than a Dhoni? An even more relaxed Dhoni! Kedar Yadhav could turn out to be a surprise element if he gets back to his 2016 form. With Harbhajan Singh out he could also do a bit of bowling on spin-friendly UAE pitches.
Why CSK won’t win IPL 2020: A lack of young blood in the team could pose problems for the team since all players are recovering from a half-year lockdown.
Mumbai Indians
Full Squad: Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Chris Lynn, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Trent Boult, Mitchell McClenaghan, Rahul Chahar, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Anmolpreet Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan, Fabian Allen, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Digvijay Deshmukh, Jayant Yadav, Anukul Roy, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ishan Kishan, Aditya Tare.
Why MI will win IPL 2020: The title holders MI are stacked with some amazing players. No wonder they won the trophy 4 times! They look formidable this year as well. Ishan Kishan could turn out to be a surprise element if he plays anywhere near to what’s expected of him. He has shown flashes of immense ability but somehow goes missing in most matches. MI have also been the strongest IPL team for the past couple of years, something that gives them a lot of confidence and scares the opposition.
Why MI won’t win IPL 2020: The biggest issue that MI face this year is that Pollard doesn’t play spin well. If the pitches in UAE are really as spin-friendly as rumours suggest, it would negate the threat of Pollard. They also lack very good spinners something that every team has stacked upon. Malinga has opted out of the tournament and although his age was catching up there are still very few better death bowlers. His yorkers would surely be missed by the team.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Full Squad: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Yuzvendra Chahal, Gurkeerat Mann, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kane Richardson, Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana, Adam Zampa, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Pavan Deshpande, Parthiv Patel, Joshua Philippe, Shahbaz Ahamad,
Why RCB will win IPL 2020: RCB have a very good batting line up this year (they always do). A good spin attack of Chahal, Zampa and Moeen Ali could give them an edge over other teams on spin-friendly pitches of UAE. Shivam Dube could be the surprise element for RCB. He has shown that he could hit as well as take wickets. While playing for India, it seemed like he was underconfident. With a crowd-less stadium in IPL 2020, he won’t have to worry about all that he could just focus on his game.
Why RCB won’t win IPL 2020: For the same reason, they haven’t won it so far. RCB lack the winning mentality, something that teams like SRH have in plenty. RCB are an amazing team, don’t get me wrong, they have been involved in some of the most entertaining games in the IPL but when it comes to crunch situations they always end up on the losing side. When they are playing well, no other team can stop them but when chips are down they keep on losing.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Full Squad: Kane Williamson, David Warner, Manish Pandey, Rashid Khan, Jonny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha, Mitchell Marsh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Abdul Samad, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Siddharth Kaul, Billy Stanlake, T Natarajan, Abhishek Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Fabian Allen, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Sanjay Yadav, Shreevats Goswami, Bavanaka Sandeep.
Why SRH will win IPL 2020: SRH has always punched over their weight. Historically they have had one of the best bowling lineups in the tournament. SRH have defended smaller scores of 130 with their great bowling and a winning temperament. An in-form Warner and Williamson are enough to get them into the semifinals. Vijay Shankar could turn out to a surprise element in this year’s event.
Why SRH won’t win IPL 2020: SRH rely heavily on Warner and Williamson. If an opponent manages to get them out quickly it’s very difficult for SRH to pose a good total. While Warner and Williamson’s consistency gets them through the group stage quite easily, it is the knockout games where a failure of either could end their title challenge.
Delhi Capitals
Full Squad: Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Jason Roy, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, R Ashwin, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Woakes, Rishabh Pant, Alex Carey, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Lamichhane, Kagiso Rabada, Keemo Paul, Mohit Sharma, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Shimron Hetmyer, Tushar Deshpande.
Why Delhi Capitals will win IPL 2020: Delhi Capitals have a really well-rounded team this year. They also have a good spin bowling attack with Amit Mishra, Ashwin and Axar Patel all capable of turning games on their own. Axar Patel could turn out to a surprise element mostly because he is very underrated. He is very accurate with the bowl as well as handy with the bat. DC could go all the way in this year’s tournament.
Why Delhi Capital won’t win IPL 2020: There is just too much going on at DC. Captain changes, team changes, name changes etc, there is just too much of change going on at the Delhi based team. Players did not have time to settle in and develop an understanding between them. Unstability could hamper their chances of a tournament win.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Full Squad: Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Eoin Morgan, Shubman Gill, Harry Gurney, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Siddhesh Lad, Varun Chakravarthy, Tom Banton, Rahul Tripathi, Chris Green, M Siddharth, Praveen Tambe, Nikhil Naik.
Why will KKR win IPL 2020: A batting line up of Karthik, Morgan, Russell, Gill and Narine, KKR have a solid batting. It is, however, their bowling that looks like would win them games this year. KKR have a formidable bowling attack in Pat Cummins, Narine, Furguson and Nagarkoti. Kuldeep Yadav who has had bad IPL for the past couple of years could finally find himself and turn out to be a surprise element on the spin-friendly UAE pitches.
Why KKR won’t win IPL 2020: KKR lack a true opener. Narine has been tried as an opening batsman and the experiment turned out successful last year with Narine able to score quickfire 40s in many matches. However, with no match practice, it would be interesting to see whether Narine still has that in him.
Rajasthan Royals
Full Squad: Steve Smith, Robin Uthappa, David Miller, Ankit Rajpoot, Mayank Markande, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Varun Aaron, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi, Akash Singh, Oshane Thomas, Andrew Tye, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tewatia, Shashank Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anirudha Joshi, Tom Curran, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Riyan Parag.
Why will Rajasthan Royals win IPL 2020: Rajasthan Royals, the winners of the inaugural IPL way back in 2008, have not done well in the recent past. They have struggled to reach even the semifinals as they don’t have many world-class players. With the addition of Steve Smith, however, that could change this year. Shreyash Gopal who dismissed Kohli and ABD in consecutive deliveries could be the surprise element for RR.
Why Rajasthan Royals won’t win IPL 2020: RR although look good on paper have a really poor fielding and spin attack something that is essential in UAE.
King XI Punjab
Full Squad: Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, Sheldon Cottrell, Mohammed Shami, Mayank Agarwal, Glenn Maxwell, James Neesham, Chris Jordan, Karun Nair, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Ishan Porel, Ravi Bishnoi, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Arshdeep Singh, Hardus Viljoen, M Ashwin, J Suchith, Harpreet Brar, Darshan Nalkande, Krishnappa Gowtham, Deepak Hooda, Tajinder Singh Dhillon, Nicholas Pooran, Prabhsimran Singh.
Why will KXIP win IPL 2020: KXIP have a really good team on paper. Mayank Aggarwal who has found success in international as well as domestic cricket could finally make this his year after years of blowing hot and cold. KL Rahul has also become one of the best batsmen in the shortest format of the game. Gayle’s experience could come handy too.
Why KXIP won’t win IPL 2020: KXIP lack the X factor. They don’t frighten the opposition. Few bad games on the trot and they almost give up. It would be no surprise if they languish at the bottom in IPL 2020
The historically strong teams like CSK, MI, SRH and KKR have the best chance of winning this year’s IPL. However so much has changed in the past 6 months and it would be no surprise if a new team manages to get the trophy this time. This could well be the year for RCB, DC and KXIP who have never had their hands on the trophy so far.
Advice for Dream11 Players
The start of the IPL is unknown territory. No one knows which players will have good games and which one’s would flop. For the first week or two, it is best to bet on the players who have been good in the past IPLs. Players like Warner, Williamson, Watson etc have been historically good players and have a better chance to continue playing like that than the new players.
