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IPL Team analysis & semifinal predictions

Just a day before the billion dollar cricket tournament starts, lets take a look at the eight teams playing in the inaugural Indian Premier League competition. This analysis is sent to us by Mohit Goyal, who is a final year MBBS student from R.N.T. Medical College, Udaipur. Here goes the Doctor’s investigation of the various IPL teams.

Royal Challengers Bangalore, Game For Life
Tag line - Born in Bangalore, For the thrill of the nation

+es…
Probably, the best bowling attack at show in the tournament with Kumble, Steyn, Zaheer and Bracken in the ranks..
Some very good all rounders in Cameron White, Virat Kohli and Praveen Kumar and not to forget the mystifying class of Kallis and Boucher..
The team with most no non sense sort of guys has batters in the line up capable of handling all varieties of conditions, so seem likely to be the best touring team..

-es…
In high scoring matches, the team could really miss an all out go bang bang sort of player..
If the South African players are unavailable for the first week of the season, as may be the case due to coinciding of South African Pro 20 tournament, this team will be hurt the worst..
Fielding has a question mark, considering that, majority of the members are in their 30s..

Why follow them…
The team name describes them.. The players are truly royal in terms of their records and have the ability to over haul all challenges..

Look out for…
Shivnarine Chanderpaul - Much like Dravid, he has been a seriously under rated cricketer..
Praveen Kumar - His presence could prove to be the real balancing act for the team..

Probable Starters…
Shivnarine Chanderpaul/ Misbah-ul-Haq
Wasim Jaffer/ Ranganath Vinay Kumar
Rahul Dravid
Jacques Kallis
Virat Kohli
Mark Boucher
Praveen Kumar
Sunil Joshi/ Balchandra Akhil
Anil Kumble
Zaheer Khan
Dale Steyn/ Nathan Bracken/ Cameron White

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Chennai Super Kings - Get Ready To Roar

+es…
Superb all rounders in form of Jacob Oram, Dhoni, Joginder Sharma and Albie Morkel, the Protean T20 specialist..
Shrewd cricketing brains in the Captain, MS Dhoni, the coach, Kepler Wessels, Ex-Kiwi skipper, Fleming and Matty Hayden..
Let alone all the logistics and the Muralidharan, the wily old fox, as they say could anywhere, anytime turn the game on its head..

-es…
Departure of Haydos after two weeks for the tour to Carribean and Jacob Oram to England will leave holes that would be hard to fill..
Apart from Murali, the bowling department doesn’t look much strong..
With an upper limit of four over seas players in a team, management would have a torrid time finding classy local bowlers to fill spots..

Why follow them…
The man with the Midas touch, MS Dhoni leads them.. The team could be one of the most entertaining ones with also, Hayden, Murali and Oram in the ranks..

Look out for…
Muttiah Muralidharan - Believe it, he will turn it square on any strip.. He could well be their man for the tournament..
Vidyut SivaramKrishnan - He could well be the one to reach the Indian ranks via IPL.. He has played some scintillating knocks in domestic cricket including one in Deodhar Trophy..

Probable Starters…
Matthew Hayden/ Stephen Fleming
Parthiv Patel
Suresh Raina
Subramaniam Badrinath
Michael Hussey/Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan
Jacob Oram
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Joginder Sharma
R Ashwin
Muttiah Muralidharan
Manpreet Gony/ A Morkel/ Ntini

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Deccan Chargers, The Unstoppables

+es…
Arguably the three best T20 specialist all rounders are in their ranks - Andrew Symonds, Scott Styris and Shahid Afridi..
Gibbs, Symonds, Styris and Afridi are some of the best fielders on the international scene and with some exciting young players and the Indian National team’s fielding coach at the helm expect some fireworks in the field..
Adam Gilchrist’s retirement from international cricket and availability for the whole season could send shivers down the opponents..

-es…
Bowling line up of the team doesn’t look all that impressive.. People in charge may find it difficult to create an efficient attack with restrictions on number of overseas players in playing eleven..
Not many other weak points but for the sake of counting, Gibbs, Symonds, Styris and Vaas have not been in great form of late..

Why follow them…
Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Shahid Afridi, Herschelle Gibbs.. Does sporting entertainment get bigger??

Look out for…
Rohit Sharma - He hasn’t got many chances at the international level, but he gives glimpses of the genius in him..
Arjun Yadav - He could be the next big thing for India for the shorter version of the game..

Probable Starters…
Adam Gilchrist
Sanjay Bangar
VVS Laxman
Rohit Sharma
Venugopal Rao
Andrew Symonds/Scott Styris
Shahid Afridi
RP Singh
Chaminda Vaas
Pragyan Ojha
D Kalyan Krishna/ Arjun Yadav

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Delhi Daredevils, Khelo Front Foot Pe

+es…
Sehwag and Gambhir at top are sure to give opponents couple of sleepless nights.. They share some excellent chemistry from their Delhi days..
The team probably has the best line up of local players up their sleeve with talents like, Shikhar Dhawan, Pradeep Sangwan, Amit Mishra, and Mithun Manhas in the ranks..
With de Villiers, Dilshan, Gambhir, Vettori, Manoj Tiwary, Shoaib Malik in field expect some half catch and run out chances being converted..

-es…
With McGrath aging and Asif and Maharoof yet to prove their fitness, the fast bowling department doesn’t look all that healthy..
Departure of Vettori to England after just two weeks of action could create a head ache in controlling run flow in post power play overs..
With only Sehwag amongst the Indian players with big international experience the team could bow in pressure situations..

Why follow them…
On their day the double triple ton man, Viru and the miserly, nagging Glenn “Pigeon” McGrath are enough to take the match their own way..

Look out for…
Gautam Gambhir - Man of the match at T20 World Championship finals, a silent killer is set and geared for the challenge and could well be the nagging thorn for opponents..
Yo Mahesh - He has shown glimpses of his all round skills at the domestic level.. It might well be his turn to strike big now..

Probable Starters…
Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
AB de Villiers/ Tillakratne Dilshan
Manoj Tiwary
Shoaib Malik
Mithun Manhas
Dinesh Karthik
Daniel Vettori/ Mohammad Asif
Glenn Mc Grath
Pradeep Sangwan/ Amit Mishra
Yo Mahesh

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Kings XI Punjab, Live Punjabi Play Punjabi

+es…
World class all rounders in Irfan Pathan, James Hopes, and ability of Yuvraj, Jayawardene and Sarwan to roll their arm over plus the super performer at this years U19 World Cup, Tanmay Shrivastav lend great balance to the team..
The most complete looking bowling line up with off and leg spinners, left and right armers and fast and fast medium bowlers in the ranks..
Sri Lanka’s Mr. Consistent with the bat and gloves, Kumar Sangakkara, is arguably the best wicket keeper - batsman in international cricket today..

-es…
Brett Lee will be unavailable after first two weeks, and the bowling department to get weak with Pathan, Sreesanth and Powar not being in the best of forms..
Lack of full time openers could hurt the team as they will be playing seven of their games at Mohali the most pace friendly wicket in India..
If the local players fail to rise, the team could face a headache finding enough good batsmen with there being restriction on number of overseas players..

Why follow them…
The 6 6 6 6 6 6 man, Yuvraj Singh.. The cover drives of Jayawardene.. The diving saves Sangakkara.. The antics of Sreesanth.. The bouncers and yorkers of Lee.. Would you like to miss these?

Look out for…
Tanmay Shrivastav - This all rounder has been one of the biggest encouragements for Indian Cricket at the recently concluded U19 World Cup in Malaysia..
Piyush Chawla – The leg break with the googly and the wrong un up his sleeve can really take pace off.. A wee bit more control and he could be a menace to the oppositions..

Probable Starters…
Tanmay Shrivastav
Irfan Pathan
Kumar Sangakkara
Mahela Jayawardene
Yuvraj Singh
Ramnaresh Sarwan/ James Hopes
Karan Goel/ Simon Katich
Brett Lee/ VRV Singh
Piyush Chawla
Ramesh Powar/ Ajitesh Argal
Shanthakumaran Sreesanth

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Kolkata Knight Riders, All the King’s Men
Motto – To fight with passion, to fight for glory

+es…
They have Ganguly, Ponting, Mc Cullum and Gayle.. Not many can provide the right blend of aggression and reliability at the same time as these gentlemen do.. The only problem in the previous sentence could be with the world gentle..
Gul’s precise Yorkers, Ishant’s accuracy and Murali Kartik’s control bolster the Knight Riders’ bowling prowess..
Few overs from Ganguly, Gayle and David Hussey will come in handy to do the balancing act for the team composition..

-es…
Shoaib’s absence would mean that they are a classy international bowler short.. It would surely be a commercial debacle for the team.. On field it may come as a blessing in disguise..
The team would hit really hard when Ponting, Gayle and Mc Cullum leave for their respective international duties after two weeks..
The bunch of local players in the team doesn’t light up an eye and is also not statistically encouraging..

Why follow them…
Sourav Ganguly, Dada as he is fondly called, the most successful Indian test captain ever, the renewed favorite of the Indian cricket fan, post the exclusion-come back episode is likely to lead the team as only he can.. Expect some verbal boundaries apart from all out cricketing aggression as Dada’s boys take to the field..

Look out for…
Laxmi Ratan Shukla – If the fan forgot, the all rounder who represented India in three ODIs may come with all guns blazing on the back of huge first class experience..
Iqbal Abdulla – He impressed one and all with his guile and flight ridden left arm spinners in the U19 World Cup.. This kid looks like a man for the future..

Probable Starters…
Sourav Ganguly
Chris Gayle/ Salman Butt
Ricky Ponting/ David Hussey
Akash Chopra
Cheteshwar Pujara/Mohammad Hafeez
Brendon Mc Cullum/ Wriddhiman Saha
Laxmi Ratan Shukla
Ajit Agarkar/ Iqbal Abdulla
Murali Kartik
Ishant Sharma
Umar Gul

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Mumbai Indians, Duniya Hila Denge Hum

+es…
Sachin, and Jayasuriya will probably make the most formidable opening combo on show in the IPL and add to that the aggressive antics of Robin Uthappa..
Miserly economical Shaun Pollock and Harbhajan, India’s best one day bowler for past couple of years will seldom give big overs to the opposition..
This looks a very good fielding unit and even the aging Tendulkar and Jayasuriya are only going to add to the enthusiasm..

-es…
With Malinga injured Pollock and Harbhajan will have to take all the responsibility on themselves..
Apart from Jayasuriya, no other batter looks like he can successfully and consistently roll his arm over and help fill the fifth bowler spot..
Most of the local players selected don’t have a lot of first class experience and adding to that, Ashish Nehra hasn’t even been in consideration since an injury forced him out of the Indian team..

Why follow them…
Sachin, Jayasuriya, Harbhajan, Pollock, Malinga, Uthappa, reason enough for not missing watching them in action..

Look out for…
Robin Uthappa – This dashy right handed attacking batsman hasn’t had ample opportunities at the international level.. This time he might make this stage his own..
Saurabh Tiwary – He is a big and hard hitting lanky batsman.. He rose to the fore at this year’s U19 World Cup..

Probable Starters…
Sachin Tendulkar
Sanath Jayasuriya
Robin Uthappa
Ajinkya Rahane/ Musavir Khote
Saurabh Tiwary/ Loots Bosman
Luke Ronchi/ Yogesh Takawale
Shaun Pollock
Ashish Nehra/ Abhishek Nayar
Harbhajan Singh
Lasith Malinga/ Dilhara Fernando
Rajesh Pawar

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Rajasthan Royals, Halla Bol

+es…
The team has many made for T20 players like, Watson, Yusuf Pathan and Mascarenhas..
The team has very good local players in Niraj Patel and Pankaj Singh and very good U19 World Cup winners, Taruwar Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja..
The experiences of Warne, Graeme Smith and Younis Khan will come in handy in chalking out plans and add to it the exploits of Pakistani wicket keeper cum opener Akmal..

-es…
With Warne and Akmal being almost certain in the side unless wicket keeper Mahesh Rawat gets a chance and remaining overseas berths likely to be given to Smith and an all rounder, it would not be possible to fit in Younis Khan.. This will weaken the batting..
With pacers Pankaj and Munaf being slightly off color recently, bowling may be found wanting in pressure cooker situations..
Not many in the team barring Kaif and a couple of foreign players are good fielders and adding to it will be the average wicket keeping of Akmal.. He might really struggle keeping to warne..

Why follow them..
The spin wizard is the reason enough to fill the stadiums.. If the local player are in good form, this team could be the dark horse coming into bright sunlight..

Look out for…
Mohammad Kaif – The Natwest final hero has been out of the Indian team for a long period.. He was recalled recently but didn’t make the cut to the playing eleven.. He is a stylish batsman and a superb fielder..
Shane Watson – The Aussie fast bowling all rounder has had a great run in Australian T20 competition.. He would like to miss the chance to rise big on the scene..

Probable Starters…
Yusuf Pathan
Graeme Smith/ Dmitri Mascarenhas
Taruwar Kohli
Mohammad Kaif
Neeraj Patel
Shane Watson/ Younis Khan
Kamran Akmal
Ravindra Jadeja
Shane Warne
Munaf Patel
Pankaj Singh

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Top four teams (which will get into semis) - Royal Challengers, Kings XI, Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians..

Rest four will fall short..

© 2008 Indian Premier League (IPL) Mag.

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