Rating the winning chances of all teams in IPL 2020

When the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Board meeting was organized earlier this week, it became clear that the time for making the inevitable announcement had finally arrived. The long-pending and much-anticipated official announcement of the postponement of the T20 World Cup has made clearance for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to reschedule the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the vacated slot.

The apex body for cricket in India has locked in September 19 as the start date for conducting the marquee tournament in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the horrific impact of the pandemic has dented all the possibilities of scheduling it in India. It is understood that the BCCI will approach the Central Government for an official clearance once the governing council formally proposes UAE as the venue.

Organizing the IPL outside the Indian waters will not be much of a concern for the fans or the other stakeholders. However, strictly from a cricketing perspective, the different teams will certainly grapple with issues such as coming to terms with the foreseeable changes in the playing conditions, finding the right team combination in accordance with the altered dynamics awaiting them, acclimatising themselves with the torrid weather of UAE and much more.

Over these years, we have seen enough of every franchise to know about their strengths and weaknesses. Quite interestingly, even though a few players retire, some new step in, and the old keep shuffling through the IPL auctions from time to time, certain franchises have established a reputation of their own by performing with fabulous consistency whereas some have struggled.

Here we rate the winning chances of all the teams in IPL 2020:

8. Kings XI Punjab – 5/10

Through the years –

Kings XI Punjab has been quite unimpressive, to say the least, over all the seasons of the league. Apart from the one instance of 2014, they have not been able to make any mark and have been annoyingly inconsistent. In fact, looking at their performance shows that the only thing they are the most consistent at is being inconsistent!

They have the ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle at the top. The fact that the grounds are much bigger in UAE and clearing the boundary is not as easy, the likes of Gayle and their recent acquisition of the explosive Glenn Maxwell will come in handy. KXIP have a strong Indian batting line-up with KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, and Sarfaraz Khan playing for them. Nicholas Pooran is a high-rated T20 player and it solidifies their middle-order immensely.

KXIP bought two great assets in James Neesham and Chris Jordan to bolster their all-rounder column. However, apart from these two, the other all-rounders- Harpreet Brar, Deepak Hooda, and Krishnappa Gowtham- are relatively inexperienced. In their bowling attack, they have some exciting players such as Sheldon Cottrell and Mujeeb-Ur-Rehman. However, the strongest cog of the unit is undoubtedly Mohammed Shami.

KXIP has acquired Ishan Porel and Ravi Bishnoi, both of whom have performed well at the domestic level and may translate their form at this level as well. Despite having many match-winners over the years, KXIP has failed to convert themselves into a team of substance. After years of non-performance, they will want to put their best foot forward this year.

7. Delhi Capitals – 5.5/10

Through the years –

Another franchise that has lacked consistency over all the years of the tournament has been Delhi Capitals. From changing captains to changing the name of the franchise, DC has tried everything, but to no avail. Their batting line-up is loaded with players from India such as Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant. Coming alongside Dhawan or Shaw will be the hard-hitting Jason Roy. They have also acquired the services of Shimron Hetmyer, who is an interesting prospect in the setting of the IPL.

Other interesting additions in their all-rounder portion are Marcus Stoinis and Chris Woakes, both of whom can bowl at all stages and are quite handy with the bat. Axar Patel has been expensive at times, but he might chip in on the tracks of UAE which are generally on the slower side.

The entire DC unit almost looks like an Indian XI as we look at their bowling attack. They have Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra, both of whom can be extremely crucial in the dry and hot conditions of UAE. Another exciting prospect is the Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane. Among pacers, they have got a brilliant buy in Kagiso Rabada alongside the existent Ishant Sharma and Mohit Sharma.

The team looks much better and settled than their previous outings, however, they lack diversity and have a bunch of players who play a highly similar role specifically in their batting unit.

6. Rajasthan Royals – 6.5/10

Through the years –

From the perspective of having the potential, RR has always been into consideration. However, they have not been able to capitalise correctly ever since their maiden triumph in the inaugural IPL edition. The Royals had quite a few spots to fill as they released as many as eleven players prior to the auction.

Steve Smith, who has been a mainstay, is set to continue. They have some aggressive batsmen in Jos Buttler and their recent purchase, David Miller. Their middle-order is beefed up with the experienced Robin Uthappa who is accompanied by Sanju Samson and the phenomenally talented Yashasvi Jaiswal. RR has an exceptional all-rounder in the name of Ben Stokes, however, the other all-rounders- Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, and Riyan Parag- either lack experience or have had an underwhelming run thus far.

Much like KKR, the Royals can also make a playing XI consisting of only bowlers. They have the mighty impressive Jofra Archer. The three new acquisitions in the form of Oshane Thomas, Andrew Tye, and Tom Curran, gives them a wide variety to choose from. Varun Aaron has some serious pace, but the bowlers relying merely on pace as their weapon will certainly have problems in the UAE.

RR has shown faith in domestic players as they acquired Jayadev Unadkat and medium-pacer Kartik Tyagi. They have the services of the highly impressive Mayank Markande apart from Ankit Rajpoot. However, their spin department lacks strength. Their squad looks decent, but they have left quite a few gaps.

5. Kolkata Knight Riders – 7/10

Through the years –

Kolkata Knight Riders have been a busy franchise over the years. The team has invested hugely in the youngsters in every slot of their team. However, KKR appears to be dangerously inexperienced in specific areas due to the same. They have the talented left-hander Nitish Rana, who has a fair bit of experience in the IPL, and the sensational Shubman Gill in their top-order. Rinku Singh, a phenomenal young talent in the Indian first-class circuit, is another young-gun whom they have betted on apart from Siddhesh Lad.

KKR has just two overseas batsmen- Eoin Morgan and their recent-most acquisition, Tom Banton. Dinesh Karthik, who also keep wickets for them, is the only experienced campaigner apart from Morgan and Rana. The team has an incredible scarcity of all-rounders, although they possess two of the most deadly in this category in Sunil Narine and Andre Russell. Barring these two, the T20 specialist Chris Green is the only all-rounder KKR has.

Their bowling line-up is extraordinarily long with as many as 11 players in it. Kuldeep Yadav will have a major role to play in the spin-assisting conditions of UAE. Much like their batting-unit, KKR has a flurry of young Indians in their pace-unit as well. They have Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Prasidh Krishna, and Sandeep Warrier, all of whom performed impressively on occasions last year. They also occupied a few uncapped spinners like Varun Chakravarthy and the evergreen 48-year-old, Pravin Tambe (who has been banned).

Amongst all these, the most whopping purchase was of the 3 million-dollar-baby, Pat Cummins, who is all set to spearhead the team’s pace attack. KKR has a bunch of talented players, however, having too many pacers and the death of all-rounders might hurt them.

4. Royal Challengers Bangalore – 7.5/10

Through the years –

RCB’s run at the IPL is known to all and the dash in front the winner’s column has been a startling conundrum for the fans. However, this year the ‘Play Bold army’ might fancy its chance given that they have covered all the bases in this auction.

Batting has never been an issue for RCB. The ever-explosive Aussie batsman, Aaron Finch, is set to open for them alongside their regular opener, Parthiv Patel, this year. RCB has occupied the services of the young Devdutt Paddikal, and it will be interesting to track him. No set of words suffice to describe the golden and devastating duo that follows- Virat Kohli and ABD. RCB has also placed a few bets on certain uncapped players such as Joshua Phillippe, Pavan Deshpande, and Shahbaz Ahmed.

They have extremely handy Indian all-rounders in the form of Shivam Dube and Washington Sundar. Moeen Ali adds great value as an all-rounder and might well prove his importance on gripping tracks of UAE where the ball stops and stays low. Chris Morris, their recent buy, is certainly a wise pick as he can bowl at any given stage and contribute quite well with the bat.

The latest addition of the ferocious Dale Steyn has bolstered their bowling attack exceptionally well. RCB has a great deal of variety with Isuru Udana and Kane Richardson walking in, as all of these are different kinds of bowlers. Having Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, and Mohammad Siraj, they have made an excellent blend of Indian and overseas pacers.

3. Sunrisers Hyderabad – 8/10

Through the years –

In terms of the squad, SRH is up to the brim with full 25 soldiers in their “Orange Army”. They have the aggressive southpaw, David Warner, in the opening slot, who comes alongside another hard-hitting right-hander, Jonny Bairstow. The franchise has shown immense trust in Indian players- Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, and Wriddhiman Saha- as far as their middle-order is concerned. They have made interesting investments in youth by acquiring Virat Singh and the current India Under-19 captain, Priyam Garg.

Their best strength lies in the diversity of their all-rounders which includes the likes of Vijay Shankar, Mitchell Marsh, Fabian Allen, and Mohammad Nabi. Therefore, they have ensured to have plenty of options for themselves. Needless to say that Rashid Khan is going to be their most dependable and potent weapon this season given the fact that the situations in UAE will suit his kind of bowling.

SRH’s primary concern will be the lack of overseas pacers as they have none apart from Billy Stanlake in that slot. Their heavy Indian pace-attack is extremely reliant on Bhuvneshwar Kumar, as all others such as Siddharth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, and Sandeep Sharma are not too experienced. SRH may land in trouble if either Stanlake or Bhuvneshwar become unavailable due to an injury or another cause.

The overall impression of the SRH camp certainly marks them as a robust unit. Apart from slight concerns related to not having the requisite backup in their pace-attack, they seem settled.

2. Mumbai Indians – 9/10

Through the years-

Much like CSK, Mumbai Indians have also entrusted faith in certain players and have constructed a team around them. In fact, MI has secured the services of Kieron Pollard and Lasith Malinga for over a decade now. Two openers- Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock- who play that role for their national teams as well, provide MI a rock-solid base at the top.

Their recent acquisition in the form of an explosive Chris Lynn will serve an impressive back-up for any top-order batsmen. Apart from being a successful franchise, MI has performed a rather noble cause of scouting young blood and their investment in Ishan Kishan, Anmolpreet Singh and Suryakumar Yadav over the years is a testament of that.

The duo of Hardik and Krunal Pandya add great value to the squad whereas Kieron Pollard’s abilities as an all-rounder need no introduction in this format. The team has a formidable pace attack including frontline pacers like Trent Boult, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, and specialists such as Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga. Dhawal Kulkarni along with Jayant Yadav and Rahul Chahar cover there Indian-bowling column.

MI has been supremely stable in its IPL journey and much more under the leadership of Rohit Sharma. They look a side as strong as any, however, their sole concern will be the lack of experienced spinners.

1. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) – 9.5/10

Through the years –

CSK is one of the teams that has backed its players to the hilt and has made additions or subtractions around an established core. The team has arguably the finest leader in the history of the game leading them and their IPL record not speaks, but shouts that loud.

The biggest plus in the CSK squad is the immense variety of spinners available to them. Having the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma, and Piyush Chawla, they will certainly have an upper hand over others on the slow and turning tracks of UAE. Their batting line-up might be a tad rusty as from Shane Watson, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina to Ambati Rayudu, and skipper MS Dhoni, all have either retired or been away from international cricket for quite long.

CSK has got brilliant all-rounders in Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo whereas the new addition of a seam-bowling all-rounder in Sam Curran has only made their unit stronger. Although it is true that spinners get a lot more purchase in UAE, the fast bowlers can reap benefits if they hit the right line and lengths. Therefore, Lungi Ngidi and Josh Hazlewood will surely extract something out of the tracks and so should Shardul Thakur, if he could make certain adjustments.

There is no other team that comes close to the CSK’s unmatched consistency. They have made into the playoffs in every season they’ve played and are the favourites once again.