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Ed's guide to every team in IPL 2023
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Royal's flush with power and Hyderbad on rise
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Get Ed's top four prediction
Gujarat Titans 11/2
To make the final: 11/4
Top four: 10/11
To finish bottom: 12/1
Last year: Winner
Batting boundary % rank: 10
Bowling economy rank: 1
Game changer Hardik Pandya
Game clogger: Kane Williamson
Strengths: The champs are a crack bowling unit on the rankings, led by Rashid Khan who was instrumental in a PSL win for Lahore Qalandars. They have batting power up front, in the middle and at the death with Gill, Hardik, Miller and Tewatia vital.
Weaknesses: It's a major concern that they saw fit to add Kane Williamson. No other top six batsman has a lower boundary percentage in this tournament in the last two years. He could slow them down at moments when they need to speed up. It's an anaolgy for their place at the head of the pack, too. They may be a solid lay to make the top four at 2.305/4.
Possible XI: Gill, Wade, Williamson, Hardik, Miller, Tewatia, Yadav, Rashid, Shami, Mavi, Kishore
Squad: Hardik Pandya (c), KS Bharat, Alzarri Joseph, Josh Little, Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Mohammed Shami, Darshan Nalkande, Noor Ahmad, Urvil Patel, Rashid Khan, Wriddhiman Saha, R Sai Kishore, Sai Sudharsan, Pradeep Sangwan, Vijay Shankar, Mohit Sharma, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Odean Smith, Rahul Tewatia, Matthew Wade, Kane Williamson, Jayant Yadav, Yash Dayal
Rajasthan Royals 6/1
To make the final: 3/1
Top four: 10/11
To finish bottom: 9/1
Last year: Runners-up
Batting boundary % rank: 4
Bowling economy rank: =3
Game changer Jos Buttler
Game clogger: Joe Root
Strengths: Royals are a solid, well-oiled unit. They don't appear to have any weaknesses in their squad and possible XI. Jos Buttler, fully focused and well-rested, will need to fire up front and Dev Paddikal needs to adjust to his middle-order role.
With the ball, Ravi Ashwin and Yuz Chahal are stellar. We're coming round to the idea that they might be the second team which is the wrong price on the outright.
Weaknesses: They could make problems for themselves if they insist on picking Joe Root. Their English connections are admirable but there's no way he gets in ahead of Shimron Hetmyer. Prasidh Krishna is a loss.
Possible XI: Buttler Jaiswal, Samson, Paddikal, Hetmyer, Parag, Holder, Ashwin, Chahal, Boult, Saini
Squad: Sanju Samson (c), Abdul Basith, M Ashwin, R Ashwin, KM Asif, Trent Boult, Jos Buttler, KC Cariappa, Yuzvendra Chahal, Donovan Ferreira, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Obed McCoy, Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Kunal Singh Rathore, Joe Root, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, Akash Vasisht, Adam Zampa.
Mumbai Indians 6/1
To make the final: 11/4
Top four: 10/11
To finish bottom: 9/1
Last year: 10
Batting boundary % rank: =2
Bowling economy rank: =3
Game changer: Cam Green
Game clogger: Rohit Sharma
Strengths: If Mumbai win are to win a sixth title, the old maxim that bowlers win franchise leagues will have to take a year off. Four of the potential top six are incredibly dangerous and there is no room currently for the likes of Dewald Brevis or Tristan Stubbs.
Weaknesses: The loss of Jasprit Bumrah is a hammer blow and that leaves behind a frail pace attack. Jofra Archer certainly won't play every game. Jason Behrendorff can be brittle. When Piyush Chawla is making a probable XI you have problems. Rohit Sharama is also a vastly overrated opener in this league and needs to buck up.
Possible XI: Rohit, Ishan, Yadav, Varma, David, Green, Ramandeep, Archer, Behrendorff, Chawla, Kartikeya
Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jofra Archer, Arshad Khan, Jason Behrendorff, Dewald Brevis, Piyush Chawla, Tim David, Raghav Goyal, Cam Green, Ishan Kishan, Duan Jansen, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Shams Mulani, Ramandeep Singh, Hrithik Shokeen, Tristan Stubbs, Arjun Tendulkar, N Tilak Varma, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Suryakumar Yadav.
Delhi Capitals 6/1
To make the final: 3/1
Top four: 10/11
To finish bottom: 12/1
Last year: 5th
Batting boundary % rank: =5
Bowling economy rank: =6
Game changer: Axar Patel
Game clogger: Manish Pandey
Strengths: David Warner is a canny skip. Prithvi Shaw, at just 23, remains one of the most attacking openers. If he can put big scores together they have a great launch pad. All-rounder Axar Patel has the ability to carry them perhaps further than they deserve.
Weaknesses: The loss of Rishabh Pant means that Delhi are struggling to work out who their keeper should be. If Phil Salt gets the gig that means an overseas lock misses out so Sarfaraz may get the chance to nail the role. We're really not keen on Manish Pandey in the middle order. They may also take a rosk on ocassion and go with five bowlers.
Possible XI: Shaw, Warner, Rossouw, M Marsh, Pandey, Sarfaraz, Axar, Kuldeep, Nortje, Khaleel, Nagarkoti
Squad: David Warner (c), Khaleel Ahmed, Aman Khan, Yash Dhull, Praveen Dubey, Sarfaraz Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Lalit Yadav, Mitchell Marsh, Mukesh Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Vicky Ostwal, Manish Pandey, Ripal Patel, Axar Patel, Rovman Powell, Rilee Rossouw, Chetan Sakariya, Phil Salt, Ishant Sharma, Prithvi Shaw
Bangalore Royal Challengers 6/1
To make the final: 3/1
Top four: 6/5
To finish bottom: 6/1
Last year: 3rd
Batting boundary % rank: 7
Bowling economy rank: 10
Game changer Michael Bracewell
Game clogger: Virat Kohli
Strengths: Erm...Michael Bracewell is a cracking signing? Oh and Wanindu Hasaranga is the envy of every franchise.
Weaknesses: Where to start? On the data they do nowt well. Then chuck in Virat Kohli, who will rival Kane Williamson for the slowest in the top three in the tournament. They have lost Will Jacks to injury, Rajat Patidar, too. And Josh Hazlewood is struggling. They are contenders to finish bottom and we don't expect them to make the play-offs so a lay at 2.6813/8 is decent.
Possible XI: Du Plessis, Rawat, Kohli, Maxwell, Lomror, Karthik, Bracewell, Shahbaz, Hasaranga, Harshal, Siraj
Squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Akash Deep, Finn Allen, Anuj Rawat, Avinash Singh, Manoj Bhandage, Mohammed Siraj, Michael Bracewell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Josh Hazlewood, Dinesh Karthik, Siddharth Kaul, Virat Kohli, Mahipal Lomror, Sonu Yadav, Glenn Maxwell, Harshal Patel, Suyash Prabhudessai, Rajan Kumar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Himanshu Sharma, Karn Sharma, Reece Topley, David Willey, Rajat Patidar
Lucknow Super Giants 7/1
To make the final: 10/3
Top four: 6/5
To finish bottom: 7/1
Last year: 4th
Batting boundary % rank: 8
Bowling economy rank: 8
Game changer Deepak Hooda
Game clogger: Nic Pooran
Strengths: Lucknow did well in their inaugural season and they should go close to another play-off campaign. With KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock there are no concerns about runs. Deepak Hooda is slated for a big tournament with the bat. They have guaranteed wickets in the middle through Ravid Bishnoi and Mark Wood while Jaydev Unadkat can mop up at the death.
Weaknesses: The injury to Mohsin Khan is a nasty blow and has probably been the final straw for those consideinig backing them. We really hate having Nic Pooran at No 3. He's wildly inconsistent for our money. It's a shame also their data points aren't stronger
Possible XI: Rahul, De Kock, Pooran, Hooda, Stoinis, Gowtham, Krunal, Avesh, Bishnoi, Unadkat, Wood
Squad: KL Rahul (c), Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Quinton de Kock, K Gowtham, Deepak Hooda, Prerak Mankad, Kyle Mayers, Amit Mishra, Naveen-ul-Haq, Krunal Pandya, Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Daniel Sams, Karan Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Marcus Stoinis, Swapnil Singh, Jaydev Unadkat, Manan Vohra, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Yash Thakur, Yudhvir Singh
Punjab Kings 8/1
To make the final: 7/2
Top four: 13/8
To finish bottom: 6/1
Last year: 6th
Batting boundary % rank: =2
Bowling economy rank: 10
Game changer Sam Curran
Game clogger: No-one stands out
Strengths: They spent big on Sam Curran and pairing him with Arshdeep at the death should mean they are one of the tighest units at the death.
Weaknesses: They can bat but they can't bowl, which will give bettors a geat strategy for in-play. They have a tendency to start well or badly, and then transform in themselves into the opposite in the latter half. With no play-off since 2014, better squads than this have failed.
Possible XI: Dhawan, Prabhsimran, Rajapaksa, Livingstone, Jitesh, Sharukh, S Curran, Harpreet, Rabada, R Chahar, Arshdeep
Squad: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Raj Bawa, Rahul Chahar, Sam Curran, Rishi Dhawan, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar, Harpreet Singh, Vidwath Kaverappa, Liam Livingstone, Mohit Ratee, Prabhsimran Singh, Kagiso Rabada, M Shahrukh Khan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Shivam Singh, Matthew Short, Sikandar Raza, Atharva Taide
Chennai Super Kings 17/2
To make the final: 4/1
Top four: 13/8
To finish bottom: 11/2
Last year: 9th
Batting boundary % rank: 9
Bowling economy rank: =6
Game changer: Ravi Jadeja
Game clogger: MS Dhoni
Strengths: A fit-again Ravi Jadeja could be to Chennai what Axar is to Delhi. He could take them a long way on his own. A spinning surface at home and an army of tweakers to choose from makes their strategy simple: win at home to make the play-offs.
Weaknesses: Sacrilege, of course, but MS Dhoni has been a busted flush for a good few years and he is likely to cost them at the death in tight games. They're not pulling up trees with bat and ball. We don't expect Ben Stokes to do much bowling so it could be he is exposed as a batter who is not quite up to the all-action format.
Possible XI: Gaikwad, Conway, Moeen, Rayudu, Stokes, Jadeja, Dhoni, Dube, D Chahar, Theekshana, Deshpande
Squad: MS Dhoni (c), Moeen Ali, Bhagath Varma, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Sisanda Magala, Ajay Mandal, Matheesha Pathirana, Dwaine Pretorius, Shaik Rasheed, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Ben Stokes, Maheesh Theekshana, Mukesh Choudhary
Sunrisers Hyderbad 9/1
To make the final: 4/1
Top four: 15/8
To finish bottom: 9/2
Last year: 8th
Batting boundary % rank: =5
Bowling economy rank: =3rd
Game changer: Aiden Markram
Game clogger: T Natarajan
Strengths: Like Royals, they have all bases covered after finally prioritising middle-order batting power. This aligned with a tried and trusted bowling unit makes them the headline selection from our outright preview.
Skip Aiden Markram's experience of winning with the Sunrisers in South Africa is a boost. And cosnider that Washinton Sundar, Marco Jansen, Akeal Hosein, Kartik Tyagi and Mayank Markande don't get in the XI.
Weaknesses: It could be that Sunrisers never work out their best XI and player confidence suffers as a result. T Natarajan also needs to tighten up on economy rate.
Possible XI: Agarwal, Abhishek, Tripathi, Brook, Markram, Phillips, Samad, Rashid, B Kumar, Umran, Natarajan
Squad: Aiden Markram (c), Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Anmolpreet Singh, Harry Brook, Mayank Dagar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Akeal Hosein, Marco Jansen, Kartik Tyagi, Heinrich Klaasen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Samarth Vyas, T Natarajan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Sanvir Singh, Glenn Phillips, Adil Rashid, Rahul Tripathi, Umran Malik, Vivrant Sharma, Upendra Yadav, Washington Sundar
Kolkata Knight Riders 5.04/1
To make the final: 9/2
Top four: 2/1
To finish bottom: 4/1
Last year: 7th
Batting boundary % rank: 1
Bowling economy rank: 2
Game changer Venkatesh
Game clogger: Andre Russel
Strengths: The combined boundary percentage of our projected top seven and the cumulative bowling economy of their best five bowlers means they're a data bet. It could be that they produce a shock. We're not as down on them as others.
Weaknesses: They are too reliant on Andre Russell and Sunil Narine and it's strange they've not cut their losses with both after so many years. They need to get David Wiese in the XI. The loss of Shreyas Iyer is probably what costs them, though.
Possible XI: Venkatesh, Gurbaz, N Rana, Shreyas/Jagadeesan, Rinku, Russell, Narine, Shardul, Ferguson, Chakarathaty, Umesh
Squad: Nitish Rana (c), Vaibhav Arora, Lockie Ferguson, Harshit Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, N Jagadeesan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Litton Das, Mandeep Singh, Sunil Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan, Rinku Singh, Tim Southee, Suyash Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, David Wiese, Umesh Yadav, Shreyas Iyer
Ed Hawkins' predicted top four
1 Rajasthan Royals
2 Sunrisers Hyderabad
3 Mumbai Indians
4 Chennai Super Kings
Read Ed Hawkins' outright preview here