IPL 2016 – Team Ratings

The Indian Premier League concluded yet another successful season when the Sunrisers Hyderabad emerged victorious against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at Bengaluru to be crowned as the IPL 2016 champions. The tournament had something for each team, the positives and the negatives. While some got their combinations right in the early stages, others couldn’t find a stable eleven till the end. Kings XI Punjab – 3/10: Kings XI Punjab. (Photo Source: BCCI) The Kings XI Punjab took the wooden spoon this year as well. They started off well with a win over the Rising Pune Supergiants but soon lost the plot. One of the major reasons for their dwindling fortunes was the poor form of their overseas giants – David Miller and Glenn Maxwell. While Maxwell did arrive with a couple of fifties towards the end, Miller could never capitalize. Switch in captaincy from Miller to Murali Vijay saw a brief resurgence but eventually they could manage just 4 wins in IPL 2016. Emergence of Marcus Stoinis as a reliable allrounder was a huge positive for them but the biggest plus were their fast bowlers Mohit Sharma and Sandeep Sharma. The duo emerged as prolific death bowlers. A few highs in the middle, including a thumping win over Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets and Axar Patel’s hat-trick gave them some moments of joy. Rising Pune Supergiants – 4/10: Rising Pune Supergiants. (Photo Source: BCCI) The only reason they get a point over Kings XI Punjab is the fact that they faced an injury crisis. Four of their first choice overseas players got injured and this dented their entire combination. Skipper MS Dhoni seemed to be struggling with his bowlers as his frontline bowlers leaked runs in plenty. Earlier in the tournament, Faf du Plessis looked good for his couple of fifties and Steve Smith was ominous following his maiden T20 ton. Ajinkya Rahane emerged as the highest run-getter for them with 480 runs. But all the performances rarely clicked together. A herculean effort from MS Dhoni saw them avoid the last spot. On the whole, it was a disappointing outing for Dhoni’s men. Delhi Daredevils – 6/10: Delhi Daredevils. (Photo Source: BCCI) The Delhi Daredevils surely paid the price for their daredevilry. They were cruising at one stage in the tournament but a mistimed experiment of swapping a settled eleven with the bench didn’t click for them. They were unlucky on a few occasions too, losing by one run against the Gujarat Lions despite the heroics of Chris Morris. However, the team certainly did show up a few bright stars for the future. Quinton de Kock plundered runs at will, and young guns like Rishabh Pant, Carlos Brathwaite and Sam Billings came in good in their sporadic appearances. However, they couldn’t get their act together for the entire season, due to which they couldn’t make their way to the playoffs. Mumbai Indians – 6/10: Mumbai Indians. (Photo: Nitin Lawate/IANS) Much like the previous editions, the Mumbai Indians left it a little too much for the end. They had a horrid start losing to Rising Pune Supergiants in the tournament opener. MI came back good riding on brisk knocks from skipper Rohit Sharma, who scored 489 runs in the tournament. A new star in Krunal Pandya emerged on the big stage and took the game away from Delhi Daredevils with 86 off 37 balls. However, the lack of a stable batting lineup and the inconsistency that prevailed cost the team dearly. Jos Buttler and Kieron Pollard were inconsistent in the middle order. Hardik Pandya showed no signs of form, let alone good form. With 7 wins and 7 losses, the champions of 2015 had a quiet season. Kolkata Knight Riders – 7/10: Kolkata Knight Riders. (Photo Source: BCCI) The Kolkata Knight Riders did well to make it to the playoffs. They dominated the first half of the season after starting with a 9-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils. With another 8-wicket win over the Sunrisers, they seemed to have a great batting lineup. Their middle order, that was expected to be fragile, clicked well with Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell and Manish Pandey doing exceedingly well on most occasions. The spin department helped them choke the opposition throughout the tournament but backfired in the all important Eliminator. Skipper Gautam Gambhir’s form was a big plus for the side as he led from the front with 501 runs in 15 matches. A calm season for Sunil Narine and an untimely injury to Andre Russell saw them lose out on the team balance. On the whole, they could not replicate their heroics from 2014 or 2012. Gujarat Lions – 7/10: Gujarat Lions. (Photo Source: BCCI) It was a case of contrasting fortunes for the two debutant IPL teams. RPS slumped to the bottom half of the table and the Gujarat Lions emerged as the dark horses. The Lions had a roller coaster of a season. They started off with 3 successive wins and then saw a series of defeats. They faced heat from RCB in the tournament, Virat Kohli in particular. The heavy defeat at the hands of RCB in the league stages, probably took a huge toll on them. They flirted with their settled opening combinations time and again which didn’t click for them. Their overreliance on the top three and a total failure of the middle-order saw them slip out of the race for the finals, despite finishing on the top of the points table in the league stages. Royal Challengers Bangalore – 9/10: Royal Challengers Bangalore players Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. (Photo Source: IANS) It has been 9 years since the tournament started, but the problems for the RCB remained the same. It was their lackluster bowling that cost them most of the matches. They performed specifically well when they needed to win 4 of their last league matches to qualify for the playoffs. Under the excellent leadership of Virat Kohli, who dug out 973 runs in the tournament at an average of 81.08, the RCB batting lineup was a nightmare for all the teams. The likes of AB de Villiers, Shane Watson, Chris Gayle and KL Rahul saw them post big runs but their bowlers leaked runs at will. Though Yuzvendra Chahal and Shane Watson bagged wickets on frequent occasions, they could never block the run flow. In the end, a slight err in the bowling department saw the team failing to win the championship. Sunrisers Hyderabad – 9.5/10: Sunrisers Hyderabad. (Photo Source: BCCI) It is very tough to find an error in the champion team of the season. They had the best in the pace bowling attack, which covered up for their inexperienced spin department. Mustafizur Rahman, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Barinder Sran and the experienced Ashish Nehra were all among the wickets. The middle-order was under scrutiny but with time Yuvraj Singh, Deepak Hooda, Ben Cutting, Eoin Morgan and Kane Williamson all came in handy when it mattered. They saw a slight slump midway through the tournament but then backed themselves to win the coveted trophy. And a lot of credit surely goes to the skipper David Warner, who led from the front with 848 runs in the tournament and take no credit away from his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan, who scored 501 runs too. On the whole, it was a thorough team effort that saw SRH emerge as the IPL 2016 champions.

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