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Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has joined the chorus to predict the winner of the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The cash-rich league started with an encounter between the defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, on Saturday (September 19).
Before Vaughan, a host of cricket experts including Tom Moody, Sunil Gavaskar and Aakash Chopra amongst others have come up with their predictions.
The cricketer-turned commentator has picked Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as a firm favourite to lift the IPL trophy this year.
The Knight Riders will begin their proceedings with a clash against MI on September 23.
Vaughan reasoned that roping in Brendon McCullum as the head coach of the franchise has boosted their chance to win the tournament. The former New Zealand skipper has recently won the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020 with KKR’s sister franchise – Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR).
“Kolkata Knight Riders (will win the IPL). Baz McCullum as a coach. I just think they’ve got enough, and with him coaching, he’s just won the Caribbean Premier League, as a coach. I just think he’s going to have enough,” Vaughan told William Hill.
Vaughan lauds squad depth of KKR
The 45-year old further remarked that some of the high profile names might have to miss out a few games since KKR have too many match-winners in the squad.
“There’s plenty there for them to be competitive. Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Pat Cummins, probably won’t play all games, Andre Russell, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana. Lots of quality in there. It might be that they don’t have enough power in their batting. But there you go. Kolkata Knight Riders are your IPL champions,” concluded Vaughan.
