Top 5 Bold Predictions ahead of the IPL 2015

IPL 2015 is widely expected to be the closest season we have seen in past 8 years of the League. All the 8 teams have bought shrewdly and look better than the last season. IPL always gives the fans plenty to talk about before and after the tournament and this season it is no different with many analogies already being drawn across the nation.

 

There have been no shortage of pre-tournament controversies as well, which is bound to raise some burning questions for all the teams and some of the players going in to the 8th edition of Indian Premier League.

 

We at Sportzwiki have decided to make 5 Bold Predictions ahead of the tournament which not many will agree at first but when you read and understand the logic behind our predictions, you just might share our notion.

 

 

Walking in to any season of the IPL, Chennai Super Kings are tagged as the favorites to win the whole thing. It is no different this time either, but we have reasons to believe that CSK will endure a very difficult season in the IPL.

 

The reason we say so is the make up of CSK’s team for the tournament. CSK’s key players come from India (Dhoni, Raina, Jadeja, Ashwin, Mohit), New Zealand (McCullum) and South Africa (Du Plessis) all of which suffered an emotionally difficult world cup campaign.

 

India and South Africa bowed out at the semis while New Zealand collapsed in the final. It will be not be very easy for those players to forget the World Cup disappointment very easily and focus straight away on the IPL.

 

The team has not been able practice as a Unit as well prior to the IPL season 8. It leads us to believe that CSK are not fully ready for the season. Chennai’s first game is against Delhi Daredevils which will tell us a lot about how Dhoni’s men have prepared for the tournament.

 

 

Sunil Narine being dominated is still a sight which has eluded the cricket fans around the world but it could happen in this season of the IPL. Again you might not agree with us, but we do believe that Narine after being forced to tweak his action will not be the same bowler he has been over the various seasons of the IPL.

 

Sunil Narine will operate with a remodeled action this season and all the teams would look to go after him to test his confidence early in the tournament. Coaches will tell their batters to take the attack to Narine as he is still testing his new action and is not 100% sure on the subtle variations which he brings in his bowling. 

 

If Narine gets dominated in first few of his games, it will set a trend this season for players to go after the magician from Caribbean and we could see Narine getting hit out of the grounds for the very first time.

 

 

 

This has to be one of the most cliched predictions before every season of the IPL as RCB tends to have one of the best squads everytime in the tournament but still manage to falter at the crucial juncture of the tournament. This time however, we have all the reasons to believe that IPL 2015 will finally be the season where RCB will manage to get over the hurdle and win the whole thing.

 

The man to lead RCB this season will again be Virat Kohli, who has grown a-year older and wiser in captaining his side and with the signings of Darren Sammy, David Wiese, Adam Milne and rise in form of Mitchell Starc will be the key for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Starc will only be available for the later part of the tournament but if RCB could get to the playoffs stage, Starc could win the tournament with his lethal bowling.

 

Add to these names, RCB has the most brutal match winners of the modern game in AB De Villiers & Chris Gayle.

 

 

Perhaps the most talked about player going in to the tournament has been Kolkata knight Rider’s KC Cariappa. The mystery leg spinner mystery spinner has not even played a single first-class match but he managed to impress KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir in the nets. Cariappa continued to impress in the recently concluded Karnataka Premier League which saw him purchased by KKR for Rs. 2.4cr. 

Seeing the hype and expectation, we do believe that Gambhir will give Cariappa every chance to do well in the IPL 2015 and if the youngster delivers even half of what is expected of him, he will surely come out as the Emerging Player of the tournament.

 

 

 

What an astonishing pre-tournament build up these three men have received. Yuvraj Singh’s father Yograj Singh laid down the accusations on Dhoni for his son’s exile from the World Cup squad for 2015. Only recently Yograj claimed that Dhoni has become arrogant and does not know how to thank his stars and how the Indian captain has started to misbehave with the media.

 

Yograj went to the extent of saying that, had he been the media person he would have slapped Dhoni right across his face. This heated debate will surely stir up when Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings face Yuvraj’s Delhi Daredevils in the second game of the season.

 

Normally we have seen Dhoni be the cool and calm guy on the pitch but we could see a different Dhoni which could lose his calm following the aggressive comments from Yuvraj’s father.

 

Virender Sehwag has been tipped to make a comeback to the Indian team and be the outstanding batsman of the tournament by Kings XI Punjab’s coach Sanjay Bangar. Sehwag’s time is certainly not up by any means but his recent performances do not seem to back up Bangar’s claims. However, knowing what Sehwag is capable of, we might see the Nawab of Najafgarh turn on the magic in the IPL 2015.