Middle-order:
Steve Smith (captain)
After his impressive performances in the India-Australia series, Steve Smith has continued to show why he is the best batsman in the world. While Smith's T20 numbers aren't as impressive as his Test or ODI numbers, they are still not bad. An average of nearly 30 and strike rate of 125 after 140 T20s are solid numbers for a No.3 batsman.
Smith's record in the IPL is even better as he averages 36 and has a strike of 135 from 54 matches. And those numbers go up even further when you look at his stats from last year's tournament, where he scored his only IPL century and averaged 45 and had a strike rate of over 150 before injury ruled him out of the tournament.
This year, he will have the additional responsibility of captain as well. Although that is not new to him, it will be interesting to see how the dynamic is, especially with three international captains in Ajinkya Rahane, Faf du Plessis and MS Dhoni all in the side.
Faf du Plessis
There are three main contenders for his opening partner's slot. One is Mayank Agarwal, who is certain to feature in the side due to the flexibility he provides. The other two are Faf du Plessis and Usman Khawaja. While the latter came into the IPL on the back of a brilliant BBL, he hasn't done much of note heading in this year's edition.
All of which are likely to mean that Faf du Plessis, who has been in brilliant form for South Africa across all formats is likely to take his place in the side even if he doesn’t partner Rahane at the top of the order. Having been ruled out of last year's tournament midway through, due to injury, Faf will be looking to make amends in this edition and given that the form that he is in, few would bet against it as well.
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