3 teams which could be in contention for Colin Ingram in IPL

South African born Colin Ingram is a well-known figure in the South African domestic circuit and in various Global T20 leagues. The left-handed batsman has represented more than 5 teams in T20 leagues across the world and achieved good success.

Ingram made his debut for South Africa in the year of 2010 against Zimbabwe and had made an immediate impression after scoring a century in his ODI debut. However, he couldn’t continue his good start as repeated failures have halted his career in International cricket for South Africa.

Colin Ingram has played 31 ODIs and 9 T20Is for South Africa. However, he had much success and recognition in T20 leagues. He was part of the victorious Trinbago Knight Riders team that won the Caribbean Premier League in 2018. He also captained Glamorgan in the Vitality Blast 2018. In the recently-concluded 2018 Vitality Blast, Colin Ingram scored 402 runs from 8 games at an impressive average of 57.43 with 3 half-centuries.

With this impressive batting performances, he has caught the eye of many and is a strong contention to be picked up by an IPL franchise. Although Colin Ingram represented Delhi Daredevils in the 2011 season of IPL, his below-par performance, as well as the team’s substandard performance, resulted in him not having any buyers from the next season.

Let us look at 3 teams that could be in contention to buy Colin Ingram for the upcoming season of IPL.

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#1 Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad had a great IPL season last year as they finished runners-up. Their success has been largely due to the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson who have scored loads of runs game after game and have helped the team to put up good totals on the board. They have been helped by their bowlers too, who have defended small totals on many occasions.

However, things are going to be very different for them for the upcoming season. The Sunrisers team management has traded Shikhar Dhawan to Delhi Daredevils and has bought Shahbaz Nadeem, Vijay Shankar, and Abhishek Sharma. With David Warner likely to miss a major part of the tournament due to the World Cup and no Shikhar Dhawan in the squad, Sunrisers Hyderabad desperately needs an opener and hence Colin Ingram could be the right man for the job.

Colin Ingram would be a like-to-like a replacement for Shikhar Dhawan and has the ability to alter his game at any given point of time. It would be interesting to see if Sunrisers Hyderabad management bid for Colin Ingram in the auctions that would be held next month.

#2 Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore had a mediocre tournament last season as they ended up at 6th position with 6 wins and 8 losses from 14 games. Right from their batting to bowling, RCB had many woes in 2018 and they would need to sort them out before the next season begins. Their first and primary area of concern would be their opening slot.

Last season they had Quinton de Kock and Brendon Mccullum as their mainstream openers for the season. However, both the openers failed to get their team to required starts and this resulted in Brendon Mccullum being dropped for many games. They had Parthiv Patel as a replacement in the business end of the season.

With Quinton de Kock traded to Mumbai Indians, RCB requires a solid opener in their squad. This presents an ideal opportunity for Colin Ingram, who could be in contention to be picked up as an opener. Virat Kohli and Colin Ingram could well turn out to be the ideal openers for RCB and this would resolve their opening woes.

#3 Kings XI Punjab

Kings XI Punjab had a disappointing season last time with just 6 wins from 14 games. They started the season with a bang by winning 5 games out of the first 6 games. However, their performances dipped and they kept losing game after game in the business end of the season, which resulted in them being left stranded at 7th position in the points table.

Their main concern is their batting, which failed on many occasions. Apart from K.L Rahul and Chris Gayle to some extent, none of the other batsmen made an impact on the team. Aaron Finch, Karun Nair, and Yuvraj Singh failed regularly with the bat and this resulted in poor batting performances. With a weak middle order, the Kings Xl management could bid for Colin Ingram who can solidify and strengthen their batting.

Ingram could be used as a top-order batsman as he can hold the innings and also provide impetus by scoring runs at a brisk pace in the final stages of an innings. Ingram could be a useful buy for Kings XI management and it would be interesting to see if the management show interest towards the South African.