IPL 2018: 5 Epic Clashes to be witnessed in this IPL Season

The 11th edition of Indian Premier League is nearly a week away. This season promises to be even more exciting as the franchises have made lots of changes to their respective squads. For instance, no-one would have thought that Ravichandran Ashwin would be picked up by Punjab, whilst Harbhajan Singh would be playing for Chennai.

Majority of the venues have opened up the online booking and the response has been tremendous, with the majority of the initial games in each venue having been filled up. Fans would be thronging to the stadium to witness some of the epic encounters between 8 competitive teams.

Over the last 10 seasons, we have seen some unforgettable encounters that have etched a place in our memory. Let us look at the Top 5 games that are expected to be epic encounters this season.

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#5 Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals

Making a comeback after 2 years, Rajasthan Royals have received the biggest setback when their Captain Steve Smith was ruled out of IPL due to the ball-tampering controversy. Similar is the case with Sunrisers Hyderabad as David Warner has been ruled out citing same reasons. Ajinkya Rahane and Kane Williamson have been named as captains for their respective teams.

The 2016 season champions Sunrisers Hyderabad would be hunting for their second IPL trophy. They have recruited the likes of Shakib-Al-Hasan, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha and Carlos Brathwaite aided by marquee players such as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, and Shikar Dhawan.

On the other hand, Ajinkya Rahane will be leading a relatively young side. Barring Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, and Ben Stokes, Rajasthan Royals have a relatively inexperienced side. Jofra Archer, Dushmantha Chameera, Rahul Tripathi and Jaydev Unadkat will be the players to look out for.

With their default captains banned from their respective squads, the competition between both the teams will be worth watching as they will kick-start their tournament with hurdles to overcome.

In the 7 games played among each other, Rajasthan Royals have a slight edge over Sunrisers Hyderabad winning 4 games and losing 3 games. The 2 teams would clash against each other first at Hyderabad on April 9th. The 2nd game would be played at Jaipur on 29th April.

#4 Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings

One of the prime reasons for high excitement levels in this season is the return of Chennai Super Kings. The MS Dhoni lead side has been out of action for 2 years and this year they will be back on the field in their yellows. Chennai has retained the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo and Faf du Plessis who were part of the 2015 season. But the real surprise came, when they let go of Ravichandran Ashwin, who was their linchpin in the previous seasons.

Surprisingly Ashwin will be leading Kings XI Punjab and it promises to be a mouth-watering contest when Dhoni and Ashwin will be playing against each other in the field. Although Dhoni would miss the spin bowling of Ashwin, he would have the services of Harbhajan Singh and Imran Tahir, who would be playing for Chennai Super Kings this season.

The Kings XI Punjab squad have a well-balanced side with a mix of youth and experience. Chris Gayle, Yuvraj Singh, David Miller and Aaron Finch are the experienced lot, while K.L Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Marcus Stoinis form the younger lot.

Chennai Super Kings clearly have an upper hand with 11 wins out of 18 games in the head to head statistics. But with a much better side composition, Kings XI Punjab would want to turn the tables around this season.

The 2 teams would first clash against each other on 15th April at Holkar Stadium and the next faceoff to be played at M.A Chidambaram Stadium on 20th May.

#3 Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Lead by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli respectively, the clash between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers is the one to watch out for. While Mumbai Indians have retained the core of their side, RCB has let go of Chris Gayle, who was a key member of their team in the previous seasons. Despite this, they have roped in Brendon McCullum, who is equally as destructive as Chris Gayle.

Let us look at the head to head record between the 2 teams.

Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore have clashed against each other 21 times. Mumbai Indians have the upper hand by winning 14 games, while the latter have won only 7 games.

Clearly, Mumbai has the upper hand but Bangalore can never be written off due to the unpredictable nature of their team and the format.

#2 Delhi Daredevils vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Delhi franchise owners have gone for a complete makeover this season. They have appointed Ricky Ponting as their head coach and brought in Gautam Gambhir and appointed him as the captain of the team. This could well turn out to be a masterstroke decision considering the fact that both Gautam Gambhir and Ricky Ponting were IPL Champions for their previous franchises.

Delhi has been poor in the last five IPL seasons considering they made it to the playoffs way back in 2012 under the captaincy of Virender Sehwag. This time they have a power packed batting line up with the likes of Jason Roy, Colin Munro, Glenn Maxwell, Gautam Gambhir, Shreyas Iyer and Rishab Pant. Bowling will be headed by speedsters Trent Boult, Kagiso Rabada and Avesh Khan followed by leg-spin of Amit Mishra and debutant Sandeep Lamichhane.

Whereas Royal Challengers Bangalore would be desperate to win this year’s trophy after choking in three Finals (2009, 2011 and 2016). Virat Kohli who has been RCB’s best player will play a huge role in turning his team’s fortune this time.

Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir have had many altercations on the field previously. You can never forget the ugly spat between the two in the 2013 season. This would make the contest even more intense and the spectators will be keenly watching Delhi guys when they lead their respective sides.

#1 Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings

The first game of this season will be played between three-time Champions Mumbai Indians and two-time Champions Chennai Super Kings at the iconic Wankhede Stadium on 7th April. Quite often the first game of the season sets the tone for the entire season and when you have 2 big teams clashing against each other you surely can’t miss this epic encounter.

Both the teams have been part of some spectacular finishes in the previous seasons. They have also clashed against each other in three IPL Finals, with Mumbai winning 2 out of 3. Let us remind ourselves the top 3 games between the 2 great teams:

#3 Hardik Pandya’s sensational hitting at Chepauk in 2015

#2 Mumbai’s win despite Dhoni’s heroics in 2013 at Chepauk

#1 Dwayne Smith’s last over blitz for Mumbai, when he scored 14 of last 3 balls in a nail-biter.

Considered as the biggest rivalry in IPL, both the teams are almost neck and neck when it comes to head to head stats. Mumbai have won 13 games, while Chennai have won 11 games.

The 2 teams would clash against each other on 7th at Wankhede. The second encounter would be played at Chepauk on April 28th.