A Candid Curtain-raiser of IPL 13

  

The biggest and most celebrated T20 of the world, Indian Premier League is just 10 days away which is planned to be played in UAE for this season. It has been pushed 6 months forward by the BCCI and IPL committee due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Every sporting activity has been started. The authorities are spending millions of dollars to create a bio-secure bubble where the team(s) do not make any social interaction with anyone outside the bubble.



Despite, all the arrangements some players and support staff have been tested positive in many leagues. The same case is with the Indian Premier League. Two players and eleven members of support-staff of the CSK squad have been tested positive and a media person for the Delhi Capitals has also been tested positive.

After all these news breaks from UAE about the disease spreading inside the bubble, the protocols for the players that will be flying from the Caribbean and the United Kingdom after the CPL and England-Australia series respectively, have been modified. The players will have to quarantine in UAE for six days. Some players are being dicey to participate in this season of the IPL, including some Indian players. The result is that every IPL franchisee is making arrangements for replacements.

Keeping in mind about the replacements and the unavailability of the players of the England-Australia series, here is the list of expected players who will be lined up to represent their respective franchises.

 

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE

The team which starts every season as favorites because of the firepower in their batting lineup is also the team that finishes last due to the limited resources in the bowling unit. This season, when the pitches and the conditions of UAE which will favor the spinners and medium pacers more, RCB looks dangerous and as the captain, Virat Kohli said this year RCB’s squads most balanced since 2016.

Starting 11: Parthiv Patel (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Gurkeerat Singh Maan, Shivam Dubey, Chris Morris, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Dale Steyn, Umesh Yadav, and Yuzvendra Chahal.


 

MUMBAI INDIANS

The most successful team in the history of the Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians have won 4 out of 12 seasons and they have played 5 finals in the league. Rohit Sharma led MI looks the perfect team for Indian pitches but they could struggle here in UAE, as they lack spinning options.

Starting 11: Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, and Trent Boult.

 

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD

Sunrisers Hyderabad better known as SRH was founded in 2012 after Deccan Chargers was terminated. The team played their first season in 2013. Since then, SRH has reached the playoffs five times. Out of these 5 playoffs, they got in two finals and in 2016, they finished as the winners of the season. The team which could defend any total in the past few years seems weak in their bowling lineup this year.

Starting 11: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddharth Kaul, and Shahbaz Nadeem.


  

 

KINGS XI PUNJAB

The Punjab franchise which had Ravichandran Ashwin as their captain in the 2018 and 2019 seasons used to begin well but in the second half of the tournament would fail as a team. This time, the KXIP franchise has appointed KL Rahul as their captain. The flamboyant batsman is having a blast in IPL since 2018 when he was bought by Punjab. This year, the core players of the team are from Karnataka, which is an advantage as the Karnataka state team has risen in ranks in the last few white-ball tournaments.

Starting 11: KL Rahul (wk&c), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Nicolas Pooran, Krishnappa Gowtham, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammad Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Sheldon Cottrell.

 

RAJASTHAN ROYALS 

Rajasthan Royals is the first franchise that cracked the code on how to win the IPL and since then, they themselves have forgotten the formula. The team, which used to heavily rely on domestic talent, from the past couple of years is hugely dependent on their foreign players. These foreigner players are the best amongst the lot but they leave just before the business end of the tournament because of the national duties. But this time, there would be no such reason. Ben Stokes’ unavailability is a concern but it is what it is!

Starting 11: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Robin Uthappa, Sanju Samson (wk), Aniruddha Joshi, David Miller, Rayan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jaydev Unadkat (c), Mayank Markande, Oshane Thomas, Ankit Rajpoot.

 

DELHI CAPITALS

Delhi Capitals was earlier known as Delhi Daredevils. Now, with different owners, the team also has a different name. The team has consistently ranked lower in the echelon and has not played a single final. They have change in fortune since changing the name. DC is the only team whose lineup won’t disturb because of the changed protocols and they can also play the entire season with just three foreign players.

Starting 11: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rishab Pant (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Axar Patel, Ravi Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, and Sandeep Lamichhane.

 

Who do you think is the firm favorites for this year’s IPL?


NOTE: Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders haven’t announced their replacements. Therefore, commenting about their starting 11 was difficult.

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