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IPL 2025: Who will have a head start?

The strengths and weaknesses of the IPL teams post the mega-auction can be measured in various metrics. But bowlers, particularly pacers, will play a key role in IPL 2025. Of the 21 players on whom the IPL franchises spent 10 crore or more at the auction, 12 are bowlers. Of those 12, 10 are pacers. Big-hitters were always the kings in T20s, but the Impact Player rule has made bowlers more important. Trends in IPL keep changing, but this time it will be apt to assess the teams in terms of their Powerplay batting options and bowling depth to tackle the death overs. Why? Because the top two teams with the best Powerplay run rates made it to the IPL 2024 final and three of the top four teams with the best death bowling run rates had qualified for the playoffs.

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Sudipto Gupta
Published 27.11.24, 10:56 AM

Kolkata Knight Riders

Powerplay muscle: It’s dicey. Quinton de Kock is a good bet at the top but if they go with Sunil Narine as his partner, it’s more of a gamble. The Knights will also depend on runs in the later stages with Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh and Andre Russell.

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Bowling force: KKR’s bowling attack looks fine on paper. There’s Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora’s exuberance and raw pace from Anrich Nortje and Spencer Johnson. In Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, they have two of the best spinners in the IPL.

Chennai Super Kings

Powerplay muscle: Ruturaj Gaikwad knows the deal and Rachin Ravindra has shown enough promise. There’s the usually dependable Devon Conway too. There are options, but even then, Chennai’s top doesn’t look too menacing.

Bowling force: Matheesha Pathirana, if fit, should again be the main weapon. Ravindra Jadeja and Noor Ahmad can take care of the middle overs.

Delhi Capitals

Powerplay muscle: An exciting possible top three of Jake Fraser-McGurk,KL Rahul and Abishek Porel/Harry Brook give Delhi hope.

Bowling force: They have one of the best pace attacks with Mitchell Starc, Mukesh Kumar, T. Natarajan, Mohit Sharma and Dushmantha Chameera. Their spinners — Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel — are also top class. Delhi should shine with the ball.

Gujarat Titans

Powerplay muscle: Jos Buttler, Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan can give the team a good start. The middle-order, however, lacks dependable names.

Bowling force: A very balanced bowling attack with Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Rashid Khan & Washington Sundar, but composition will be the key.

Lucknow Super Giants

Powerplay muscle: They have some top batters, but it’s not sure who will open. If Aiden Markram is one, who will be the other one? Can they throw asurprise by promotingRishabh Pant?

Bowling force: An army of Indian pacers in Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Akash Deep and Avesh Khan will be ready to deliver.

They are short on good spinners with Ravi Bishnoi and Shahbaz Ahmed being the only tried and tested options.

Mumbai Indians

Powerplay muscle: On paper, Mumbai’s batting looks ultra-strong because of the presence of Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma. But do they have the firepower? Tilak or Surya at No. 3 will have to fire on all cylinders.

Bowling force: With Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult in their ranks, Mumbai can hope to throw opposition batters a tough challenge. If Afghan mystery spinner Allah Ghazanfar can weave his magic too, Mumbai should do well.

Punjab Kings

Powerplay muscle: Josh Inglis and Prabhsimran Singh are the two likely openers. But one guesses it will be up to Shreyas Iyer and Glenn Maxwell in the middle to lift the team.

Bowling force: There’s variety here for sure. Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen and Yuzvendra Chahal, all are good in white-ball cricket. They don’t have good Indian pacers though.

Rajasthan Royals

Powerplay muscle: They retain­ed their batting core, so they hope to do well again New recruit Nitish Rana will probably complete the top three.

Bowling force: Their pace is good with the likes of Jofra Archer, Sandeep Sharma and Fazalhaq Farooqi. The spin department has Sri Lankans Wanindu Hasaranga & Maheesh Theekshana. One has to see if they can fit in both.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Powerplay muscle: RCB look very strong at the top and would hope Phil Salt complements Virat Kohli’s poise perfectly with his aggression. Rajat Patidar and Liam Livingstone can bail out the team too.

Bowling force: In Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, RCB have two of the finest seamers.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Powerplay muscle: Sunrisers have one of the mostly explosive pair of openers in Travis Head andAbhishek Sharma. And thenthere’s Ishan Kishan, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen. They will again look at tall totals.

Bowling force: They have all kinds of bowlers. Pat Cummins’ control, Mohammed Shami’s skills, Harshal Patel’s wicket-taking knack and two wily spinners in Adam Zampa and RahulChahar. Their reserve bench though looks a bit weak.

Indian Premier League (IPL) Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Delhi Capitals Lucknow Super Giants Punjab Kings (PBKS)
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