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The 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is scheduled to begin from March 23, 2019. Started in 2008, it’s the most attended cricket tournament in the world.
IPL 2019 will feature 8 teams with a total of 62 matches. For the opening match, the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will play against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Chennai. Former Indian team skipper M.S. Dhoni will lead the CSK squad, while Indian captain Virat Kohli will head RCB. Chennai Super Kings have qualified 7 times for IPL finals, winning the tournament thrice. They are considered to be the favorites this season too. On the other hand, Royal Challengers Bangalore has qualified for the finals 3 times in the past, but they are still searching for their first IPL title.
With the ICC Cricket World Cup scheduled from 30th May to 14 July, there has been some concern regarding the availability of players this season. Also due to general elections in India around the same time, BCCI has only released the schedule for the first 17 matches. But the excitement among fans is growing as the tournament comes closer.
Let’s have a look at the teams:
Chennai Super Kings
With core players like Dhoni, Raina, Jadeja, Bravo, and Rayudu, CSK is one of the strongest sides in the tournament. They have a wonderful IPL record, and with Dhoni leading the team, it’s hard to beat them.
CSK Squad:
MS Dhoni(c), Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, Murali Vijay, Sam Billings, Ambati Rayudu, Dhruv Shorey, N Jagadeesan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shane Watson, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, David Willey, Kedar Jadhav, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi, Mohit Sharma, KM Asif, Monu Kumar
Royal Challengers Bangalore
RCB has world-class players such as Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, but the trouble has always been their bowling unit. Chahal, Negi, and Washington Sundar are likely to lead the spin attack, with Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee and Mohammed Siraj heading the pace department. Another key player to watch would be Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis who joins the side this season.
RCB Squad:
Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Heinrich Klaasen, Himmat Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Marcus Stoinis, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Milind Kumar, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Prayas Barman, Akshdeep Nath, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Tim Southee, Mohammed Siraj, Nathan Coulter-Nile
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians didn’t have a good last season as they failed to qualify for the playoffs. The side has top players like Rohit Sharma, Pandya brothers, Jasprit Bumrah and Kieron Pollard. Sri Lankan fast pacer Lasith Malinga is also making his comeback in IPL this season.
MI Squad:
Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Anmolpreet Singh, Aditya Tare, Siddhesh Lad, Evin Lewis, Quinton de Kock, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Pankaj Jaiswal, Anukul Roy, Kieron Pollard, Ben Cutting, Mayank Markande, Rahul Chahar, Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Jason Behrendorff, Barinder Sran, Rasikh Salam, Jayant Yadav
Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders will play their opening match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at their home ground on 24th March. The franchise bagged West Indies’ all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite this year. New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson also joins the squad.
KKR squad:
Dinesh Karthik (c), Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Nikhil Naik, Joe Denly, Shrikant Mundhe, Carlos Brathwaite, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Sandeep Warrier, Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson, Anrich Nortje, Harry Gurney, Yarra Prithviraj
Kings XI Punjab
The Kings XI Punjab will start this year IPL journey on 25th March, playing against Rajasthan Royals at Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Lokesh Rahul and Chris Gayle had a fantastic 2018 season, and the fans would love to see that again. Ashwin has been impressive as a captain. Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy and all-rounder Sam Curran will provide strength to the team.
KXIP Squad:
Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Simran Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Andrew Tye, Ankit Rajpoot, Hardus Viljoen, Arshdeep Singh, Moises Henriques, Varun Chakravarthy, Sam Curran, Darshan Nalkande, Agnivesh Ayachi, Harpreet Brar
Rajasthan Royals
Besides winning the first IPL tournament in 2008, the team struggled to gain any momentum. They returned last season after serving two years of suspension along with Chennai Super Kings. With core players like Ajinkya Rahane, Steven Smith, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat and Jofra Archer, the team looks balanced.
RR squad:
Ajinkya Rahane (c), Steven Smith, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Prashant Chopra, Manan Vohra, Aryaman Birla, Rahul Tripathi, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Stuart Binny, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shashank Singh, Liam Livingstone, Shubham Ranjane, Ashton Turner, Riyan Parag, Mahipal Lomror, Ish Sodhi, Jaydev Unadkat, Dhawal Kulkarni, Varun Aaron, Oshane Thomas, Sudhesan Midhun
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sunrisers Hyderabad will play their opening game against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on March 24. Bowling has always been their strength, with great death over bowlers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, and Rashid Khan. David Warner is back in the team after skipping the last season. Kane Williamson has been great leading the side to the finals in 2018.
SRH squad:
Kane Williamson (c), David Warner, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Ricky Bhui, Shreevats Goswami, Jonny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha, Martin Guptill, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Vijay Shankar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Basil Thampi, Sandeep Sharma, Billy Stanlake, K Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan
Delhi Capitals
Formerly known as ‘Delhi Daredevils’, the franchise changed their name to ‘Delhi Capitals’ this season. Shreyas Iyer who was appointed as the skipper in 2018 after Gautam Gambhir stepped down due to a string of bad performances, will lead the side this season. DD has never qualified for the finals, but with Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan and pacer Ishant Sharma joining the squad, they will hope to change their fortunes this year.
DD squad:
Shreyas Iyer (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Colin Munro, Ankush Bains, Colin Ingram, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Manjot Kalra, Chris Morris, Keemo Paul, Sherfane Rutherford, Jalaj Saxena, Amit Mishra, Rahul Tewatia, Sandeep Lamichhane, Trent Boult, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan, Ishant Sharma, Nathu Singh, Bandaru Ayyappa
