With the IPL-8 to start from the 8th of April 2015, with new faces in some of the teams it promises to be a great tournament with some Indian and international players who have played for the country.
Here we look at 10 things we can expect from this IPL-8 –
1. Suresh Raina’s consistency to continue –
Suresh Raina has been the most consistent performer in the history IPL. He is the leading run scorer in the IPL history too. He plays for Chennai Super Kings and has not missed a match for his franchise side. This year he will be looking for the same consistency, playing with freedom. He has played some vital knocks for Chennai Super Kings in the previous editions and he will look to do same in IPL 8.
2. Chris Gayle’s power hitting –
Chris Gayle’s form in the 2014 edition was not good and looked out of sorts even in the 2015 World Cup. But with Gayle skipping the home tour of England, he will be confident of a great show in IPL-8. He will be opening the innings and would look to give the Royal Challengers Bangalore a flying start so that the other batsmen in the team can build on and give the team a formidable total. Gayle’s form will be important to the team’s cause and if Gayle fires Royal Challengers Bangalore can pose a definite challenge for the IPL title.
3. Yuvraj Singh’s performances –
Yuvraj Singh’s performance this year for the Delhi Daredevils will be interesting to see as he was bought by Delhi Daredevils for a record sum of 16 crores. The team did not perform well in the last two seasons finishing last but with Yuvraj Singh coming in, the fortunes of the team might change.
Yuvraj Singh’s form last year for Royal Challengers Bangalore was poor in the first half but played some excellent innings in the later half. Yuvraj Singh has to perform well if he has any chance of coming back in the Indian team. So expect a good show from the Indian star.
4. Royal Challengers Bangalore’s dream to win the IPL title –
Royal Challengers Bangalore has one of best batting lineups in the IPL this season. They have Gayle, Virat Kohli, De Villiers, Dinesh Karthik, David Wiese, Rilee Rossouw, Darren Sammy for the firepower but their main problem still remains with their bowling.
This year they have bought Darren Sammy and Dinesh Karthik in their team which makes the batting giving more depth than the previous seasons. The bowling comprises of Mitchell Starc, Varun Aaron, Adam Milne, Ashok Dinda. Though Mitchell Starc will be missing the first few games of the IPL season so it will be interesting to see how RCB cope with it to mount a title challenge to win their 1st IPL title.
5. Chennai Super Kings looking for 3rd IPL title –
Chennai Super Kings has been the most consistent side in the IPL history. Their batting looks solid with the likes of McCullum, Smith, Raina, Bravo, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni and Jadeja. Last year they suffered due to a weaker bowling but this time they have bought Irfan Pathan, Kyle Abbott and Matt Henry to rectify it.
This team has won the title twice in 2010 and 2011 and with captain MS Dhoni they are still the team to beat with so many quality players in the team.
6. Kings XI Punjab posing a Title charge –
In the 2014 edition, Kings XI Punjab performed brilliantly and though they lost in the finals to Kolkata Knight Riders, it was a good season for the team from Punjab.
The batting will mainly depend upon Sehwag, Murali Vijay, Manan Vohra, Maxwell, and Miller. They will be looking to get into the finals and winning it this time which would be their first IPL title. For this they have to continue their performances from last season and better it by one notch to win it this time around.
7. Sunrisers Hyderabad’s bowling attack –
Sunrisers Hyderabad has arguably the best bowling attack in this edition of IPL. It has Dale Steyn, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Trent Boult and the young Indian spinner Karn Sharma. All these bowlers are quality bowlers and are lethal bowlers which can create havoc in any batting team. With Trent Boult as a new addition, this team looks more potent and will be looking to put pressure on the batting side by some quality swing bowling.
8. Preity Zinta and her Bubbly personality –
Co-owner Preity Zinta has been quite supportive for Kings XI Punjab in every edition of the IPL. She is always there and there about supporting the team with zeal through both, bad and good times. Preity Zinta’s bubbly and energetic personality will be for all to witness yet again and we all know how Indians love a passionate and expressive owners of the team to be at the ground supporting their teams.
9. Changing nature of Pitches –
With the pitches at the end of the domestic season here in India, it will play a vital role in deciding the combination of the sides. Kolkata Knight Riders has the best spin attack and most of the pitches in venues like Pune, Delhi, and Kolkata, the spinners can come and control the runs flow plus picking wickets in the middle overs. It is necessary that good pitches must be prepared so that the audience coming to watch the matches enjoy good cricket but the pitches are certain to be on the older side of things atleast in the latter stages of the tournament.
10. Domestic Indian players to perform
IPL is a great platform for the Indian domestic players to perform well. With the players performing well for their local states in the domestic tournaments, it is a great platform for them to shine and play with the big international players during the IPL. Akasar Patel playing in his second season will be eager to continue his performance in tournament which highlighted him last year. Also Sanju Samson has chance to do well and stake a claim in the Indian team.
Here’s to expecting lot of passion, entertainment and a touch of glamour to add to what is already a Sporting festival in India, IPL is sure to provide loads of fun in the next month and a half.