There are 4 teams in the top positions of IPL 2024. They are CSK, SRH, MI and GT. Of these four, CSK is a really strong team as compared to all three in every aspect. This team has plenty of all-rounders. Last year they struggled with the bowling side. This year all their main line bowlers-Chahar and Shardul Thakur are fit and back.
The last champion Chennai will start IPL 2024 as one of the favourites. However, they have been struggling with injuries for the season. It’s unclear how many matches MS Dhoni will play, Devon Conway is not available the entire season. Matheesha Pathirana and Shivam Dube are injured.
CSK XII: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Mustafizur Rahman, Mukesh Choudhary.
Delhi Capitals
Delhi has hitters, but they miss all-rounders, some bowlers do not have batting skills, which can hurt them. Their lower middle order is a cause of worry for them.
DC XII: David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Kumar Kushagra (wk if Pant is not ready), Tristan Stubbs, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, AnriNortje, Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed.
Gujarat Titans
Another team with an excellent crew, Gujarat has got all boxes checked, with backup in each department. Wicketkeeping may be an issue for them as Wriddhiman Saha is tired and his replacement, Robin Minz, is out of this season.
GT XII: Shubman Gill (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Sai Sudharsan, David Miller, Vijay Shankar, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Umesh Yadav, Spencer Johnson, Mohit Sharma.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata may add up to spin – it had helped them to win two titles – without replacing with pace and depth. Their curious combinations, however, may force them to play KS Bharat (strike rate: 111) ahead of Phil Salt, which can hold up scoring. If they do not, they will find it hard to pick overseas stars like Salt, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, or Sherfane Rutherford.
KKR XII: Phil Salt (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, Suyash Sharma.
Lucknow Super Giants
Lucknow’s policy may fluctuate on whether KL Rahul continues to do the opening or drops down the order to search for a place in the middle order of the national side. Devdutt Padikkal’s selection depends upon this reason.
LSG XII: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Shivam Mavi, Ayush Badoni, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan.
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai would replace their overseas pacers with an overseas spinner. Even though they do not have Mohammad Nabi now. Their squad is of strong Indian players– they may start with eight from them. That will include four men who have represented India in the winter of 2023; they are well-stocked in every department. But, Suryakumar Yadav’s injury, so they will have to find a backup for some of the starting games of the IPL season 2024.
MI XII: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Romario Shepherd, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jasprit Bumrah, Nuwan Thushara.
Punjab Kings
Punjab does not have big overseas cricketers. At the same time, they seem to be a perfect IPL team. Their pace bowling attack is perfect and complete.
PK XII: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Atharva Taide, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Sam Curran, Harshal Patel, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
Rajasthan Royals
Rovman Powell will add the power, that Rajasthan lacked in the middle order in 2023. They still lack the best All-rounder. This can be resolved by the solution of Impact player this season.
RR XII: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Rovman Powell, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Above all teams, Bangalore may be carrying the weakest bowling attack, mainly the spin attack. Among pacers, they can pick only one of the overseas pacers with them to go with Mohammed Siraj. They will pick Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, and Cam Green.
RCB XII: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Karn Sharma, Mayank Dagar, Reece Topley, Mohammed Siraj, Vijaykumar Vyshak
Sunrisers Hyderabad
On paper, Sunrisers Hyderabad seems one of the favorite candidates in IPL 2024. They do not have any weaknesses in any department so far. And, every department is loaded with outstanding cricketers. However, they have plenty of quality overseas players, with them.
SRH XII: Abhishek Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram (c), Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar, Wanindu Hasaranga, Pat Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik, T Natarajan
Summing Up…!
Except for a few teams, all teams are lagging in some departments. Now that is all about the team management, selection strategy before the match and the IPL conditions will lead all teams to exhibit their performances with available selections. We do not know who will perform a match-winning performance and who will lose the chance with a loose performance on that day. IPL has a history of pretty surprises on any stage till the last ball of the season. We need to see further developments and updates.