Nation braces for frenetic T20 action with cash-rich league kicking off today. Despite losing the suspended CSK & RR, IPl 2016 has enough teams and players in its locker to make up for the loss. Piosport takes a look at the contenders
Darkhorse
Sunrisers Hyderabad Predicted Finish: league Stage
Just like King XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad is long overdue for a good campaign to get the fans on their side. After missing out on a semi-final berth in the last two seasons, Hyderabad will be hoping to break the barricade this time around.
SRH made it into the last-4 only once in his first season (2013), but fell way short in the subsequent two seasons. However, this time the David Warner captained side, marshaled by their coach Tom Moody, along with mentor VVS laxman and bowling coach Muttiah Muralitharan, will look to put the old demons behind after splashing the cash sensibly in the auction. They were clear with their strategy and it was to buy the Indian players, which they managed it admirably well by grabbing the likes of Yuvraj Singh (Rs 7 Cr), Ashish Nehra (Rs 5.5 cr), Deepak Hooda (Rs 4.2 cr), Aditya Tare and Barinder Singh Bran. However, Yuvraj’s fitness remains a big issue after pulling out of the World T20 halfway through the competition by twisting his ankle.
SRH have enough batsmen to make up for his loss, with the skipper Warner along with his opening partner, Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson and Eoin Morgan can destroy any bowling unit on a given day. The likes of Kl Rahul, Ohja and Hooda would also come in handy in the middle. Besides, they do have decent bowlers with the in-form Nehra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Trent Boult in their ranks. But they lack specialists in the spin department as the onus will be on the likes of Hooda, Karn Sharma, Yuvraj and Bipul Sharma to deliver in that section.
Squad: Ashish Reddy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Bipul Sharma, Karn Sharma, Kl Rahul, Naman Ojha, Parvez Rasool, Ricky Bhui, Shikhar Dhawan, Siddharth Kaul, David Warner, Moises Henriques, Eoin Morgan, Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Yuvraj Singh, Ashish Nehra, Deepak Hooda, Aditya Tare, Barinder Singh Bran, Vijay Shankar, Mithun, T Suman, Mustafizur Rahman and Ben Cutting.
Mr Dependables
Mumbai Indians Predicted Finish: Final
Defending champions Mumbai Indians will yet again start as the team to fear, when the tournament kick-starts on April ninth. With a great blend of youth, experience, local, international players in batting as well as bowling, Mumbai have a formidable unit.
The 2-time champions possess big hitters right from the offset, with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, lendl Simmons, who terrorized India into submission in the World T20 semi-finals with a 51-ball 82.
The batting only gets better from here with the frightening Kieron Pollard, New Zealand's big-hitter Corey Anderson and add to it their latest purchase — Jos Buttler. The 25-year-old was one of the key assets in England's incredible run to the Final in World T20.
Apart from big hitting, he will also provide great cover in the wicket-keeping department, if Mumbai want to switch between their last season first choice Partiv Patel.
The bowling looks even more daunting, with the likes of Mitchell McClenaghan, Tim Southee, Jasprit Bumrah are expected to offer great pace, the ones such as Harbhajan Singh, Shreyas Gopal and J Suchith would offer them variety in the spin department. However, the possibility of their star spearhead bowler lasith Malinga virtually being ruled out of the first half of the season might be a big blow.
But, considering the strength in depth the team has to make up for his absence, Mumbai's coach Ricky Ponting does not have much to worry about.
After failing to qualify from the league stage, Mumabi have been the force to reckon with in the last six editions, winning two and reaching a Final in that period.
Now, the Rohit Sharma led side will be vying to become the first team in the IPl history to win three titles.
Squad: Rohit Sharma, Akshay Wakhare, Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Hardik Pandya, J Suchith, Jasprit Bumrah, Nitish Rana, Parthiv Patel, R Vinay Kumar, Shreyas Gopal, Siddhesh lad, Unmukt Chand, Corey Anderson, Mitchell McClenaghan, Kieron Pollard, lendl Simmons, lasith Malinga, Marchant de lange, Nathu Singh, Pandya, Kishore P Kamath, Jitesh Sharma, Deepak Punia, Jos Butler and Tim Southee.
Breathing fire
Royal Challengers Bangalore Predicted Finish: Play-offs
Considering all the big name players they have in their locker, Bengaluru outfit have not lived up to their potential so far in the IPl. After coming as runners-up in 2009 and 2011, the Virat Kohli-led side have reached the knock-out stages only twice in 2010 and 2015. Other than that they have failed to enter the last-4 on four other occasions. Considering the big money invested in the side and the magnitude of players they have in their armour, RCB has to be regarded as an under-achiever.
However, things could change drastically this time with the addition of that one big star name — Shane Watson. The Rs 9.50 crore purchase of the Australian all-rounder to the already existing Chris Gayle, Kohli and AB de Villiers would immediately transform them into a contender for the tournament. With Watson in the line-up RCB undoubtedly have the best top order of all the teams in the league. Watson's ability to bowl would also come in handy for the Daniel Vettori coached side. He could be the X-Factor in finally helping them go the distance.
The bowling looks equally good with Mitchell Starc, Adam Milne, Kane Richardson, Vikas Tokas, Varun Aaron and the impressive West Indian spinner, Samuel Badree, who played a key-role in their side's World T20 triumph.
However, the problem for RCB have been their over-reliance on the top order batsmen and their inability to follow it up with similar kind of players could cost the team if the main stars fail to shine. Squad:Virat Kohli, Abu Nechim, Harshal Patel, Kedar Jadhav, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Sreenath Arvind, Varun Aaron, Yuzvendra Chahal, AB de Villiers, David Wiese, Adam Milne, Chris Gayle, Mitchell Starc, Stuart Binny, Praveen Dubey, Vikrameet Malik, Sachin Baby, Iqbal Abdullah, Akash Karnewar, Vikas Tokas, Shane Watson, Kane Richardson, Samuel Badree and Travis Head.
Time to step up
Kings XI Punjab Predicted finish: league Stage
The Preity Zinta co-owned side have been one of the most underperformed sides in the eight seasons of IPl so far. After reaching the knock-out stages in the first season Punjab have reached the same only one more time in 2014, when they went all the way to Final, but were beaten by Kolkata Knight Riders. last year they finished last in the table with just three wins to their name.
After not retaining their skipper George Bailey in the auction, the onus will be on David Miller to try his hands with the captaincy. For the Sanjay Bangar coached side, there is a good blend of foreign and Indian players, with the big-hitting Glenn Maxwell, pacing sensation Mitchell Johnson and the skipper himself, Miller, can be a dangerous customer on a given day. They also have good Indian players in the form of Wriddhiman Saha, Axar Patel and Murali Vijay.
Add to it the likes of Mohit Sharma, Kyle Abbot, KC Kariappa and Marcus Stoinis, Punjab's bowling attack looks a well balanced one. However, their over reliance on the marquee players in the batting department may cost them. Thus the local players need to support the overseas batsmen ably to help them achieve their targets for the season.
Squad: Axar Patel, Anureet Singh, Gurkeerat Singh, Manan Vohra, Murali Vijay, Nikhil Naik, Rishi Dhawan, Sandeep Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Wriddhiman Saha (wk) David Miller, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh, Mohit Sharma, KC Cariappa, Arman Jaffer, Pradeep Sahu, Swapnil Singh, Kyle Abbot, Marcus Stoinis, Faarhan Behradien.