IPL 2018: How each franchise might line up

The Indian Premier League is back again with its 11th edition. The 2018 IPL will begin on 7th April and the first game will be played between the three-time champions Mumbai Indians and the most dominating IPL side Chennai Super Kings.

The IPL Auction has seen the franchises build their sides with fresh players. So, all the teams will try to find a balanced lineup right from the beginning and have a positive start.

Let us try to know what can be the possible lineups for each team:

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#1 Chennai Super Kings

The all-rounders of CSK will give Dhoni many options

List of players bought by the CSK at the IPL 2018 auction –

MS Dhoni (C), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Billings, Faf du Plessis, Harbhajan Singh, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Imran Tahir, Shardul Thakur, Jagadeesan Narayan, Karn Sharma, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Asif K M, Lungisani Ngidi, Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay, Mark Wood, Kanishk Seth, Kshitiz Sharma, Monu Singh, Chaitanya Bishnoi

CSK are all set to make a comeback to the IPL after two years. They have been the most dominating side in the history of IPL as they have managed to enter playoffs every time they have participated.

With two titles(2010,2011) in their kitty, they will start their campaign with most of their old and experienced players along with some new members. MS Dhoni will lead the 25-member squad.

Here is the probable starting line-up for CSK:

M Vijay, S Watson, S Raina, Faf Du Plessis, K Jadhav, MS Dhoni(c)(wk), D Bravo, R Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, S Thakur, M Wood

CSK look to be a very balanced side with five batsmen, three all-rounders and three bowlers. They have players who can bat deep down the order at No. 7 and No.8 positions.

All-rounders have always been the strength of CSK. Shane Watson will come handy for them as he can open the batting and also bowl at crucial points to help them out.

T20 is all about variations and if you have options like Bravo, Watson and Jadeja then it releases a lot of pressure from your captain as he can experiment with the bowling line up.

#2 Mumbai Indians

Variety of bowlers will help MI restrict other teams

List of players bought by the MI at the IPL 2018 auction –

Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Pat Cummins, Evin Lewis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ben Cutting, Mustafizur Rahman, Rahul Chahar, Pradeep Sangwan, Jason Behrendorff, Jean-Paul Duminy, Saurabh Tiwary, Tajinder Dhillon, Akila Dhananjaya, Aditya Tare, Siddhesh Lad, Mayank Markande, Sharad Lumba, Anukul Roy, Mohsin Khan, MD Nidheesh

The only team to win IPL three times will come in with a mindset to defend the title. Mumbai tried to retain as many old players as they could and tried to maintain the balance of their side along with some useful additions.

Rohit Sharma will lead the Mumbai squad which has an experienced coaching staff with some big names like Sachin Tendulkar, Mahela Jayawardene, Shane Bond, Lasith Malinga and Robin Singh.

Mumbai bought a lot of bowlers and all-rounders in this auction and strengthened their bowling. Here's how MI could line up:

R Sharma(c), I Kishan, S Yadav; JP Duminy; K Pandya; H Pandya; K Pollard; A Tare(wk); M McClenaghan; J Bumrah; M Rahman

Mumbai are looking good with their bowling options and the all-rounders as they will have 6-7 bowlers in their lineup. This will ease the pressure on Sharma and give him options to choose from according to the situation.

Bumrah and Rahman are great bowlers who can restrict any team from scoring heavily in the death overs. They need an experienced batsman in the middle order who can control the pace of the innings and keep scoring from one end.

They will have to depend a lot on their skipper and JP Duminy to play that role because the other batsmen like Pollard, Suryakumar and Pandya brothers are more comfortable with power hitting.

#3 Delhi Daredevils

DD has a good combination of innings builders and power hitters

List of players bought by the DD at the IPL 2018 auction –

Rishabh Pant, Chris Morris, Shreyas Iyer, Glenn Maxwell, Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Colin Munro, Mohammed Shami, Amit Mishra, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Gurkeerat Mann, Jayant Yadav, Daniel Christian, Trent Boult, Manjot Kalra, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane, Naman Ojha, Sayan Ghosh

The Delhi Daredevils have struggled a lot in the past as they have constantly been in the bottom three teams for five years. They hired Ricky Ponting as their head coach this season and tried to buy some good players in the auction.

They bought back the local boy Gautam Gambhir as well and appointed him as their captain. Gambhir led KKR to two title wins in 2012 and 2014 and he will try to repeat it with Delhi Daredevils.

Here is the probable XI for DD:

G Gambhir(c); C Munro; S Iyer; G Maxwell; R Pant(wk); V Shankar; C Morris; KG Rabada; S Nadeem; A Mishra; H Patel.

Daredevils look like the most stable and balanced side on paper. They have a perfect combination of six batsmen, one all rounder and four bowlers. They have players who have a lot of experience in the T20 format.

They have a great combination of power hitters like Maxwell, Munro and Pant along with batsmen like Gambhir, Iyer and Shankar who can provide stability to their batting and can bat till the end.

Along with this, they have quality pacers like Rabada, Trent Boult and Morris and very experienced spinners like Mishra and Nadeem.

Unfortunately, there is a possibility that Delhi will have to start without their main Indian pacer, Mohammed Shami, as he met an accident. But they still have a good option in the form of Harshal Patel who performed decently in the Ranji season.

They also have part-timers in the form of Munro and Maxwell who have proved vital with the ball for their international sides. They can also use Jayant Yadav as a spin option.

#4 Kings XI Punjab

A strong batting lineup that can chase down any score

List of players bought by the KXIP at the IPL 2018 auction –

Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, David Miller, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Rana, Ankit Singh Rajpoot, Manoj Tiwary, Mujeeb Zadran, Yuvraj Singh, Barinder Sran, Andrew Tye, Akshdeep Nath, Ben Dwarshus, Pradeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar, Chris Gayle, Manzoor Dar

Punjab have had a lot of ups and downs throughout the IPL. They have landed on top as well as the bottom of the table a few times respectively. Bowling, though, has always been an issue for KXIP which they tried to resolve in this year's auction.

They seem to have the most destructive batting lineup with many big names. R Ashwin will lead the new KXIP and here is their probable 11:

M Agarwal; C Gayle; KL Rahul(wk); K Nair; Yuvraj Singh; D Miller; M Stoinis; R Ashwin(c); Axar Patel; A Tye; M Sharma

As you can see from the names above, Punjab have a very strong batting lineup that can take down any bowling lineup on their day and can chase any target. The only problem that they might face is the lack of a quality pacer.

They have some good medium pacers like Tye, Stoinis and Mohit Sharma who can trouble the batsman with their variations. However, they lack a pacer like Rabada, Starc or Johnson who can provide them with early wickets with the new ball.

Their bowling will depend a lot on Ashwin and Axar as they will have to stop other teams in the middle overs.

#5 Rajasthan Royals

An experienced and reliable batting lineup

List of players bought by the RR at the IPL 2018 auction –

Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat, Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer, K Gowtham, Jos Buttler, Rahul Tripathi, D'Arcy Short, Ajinkya Rahane(C), Dhawal Kulkarni, Zahir Khan, Ben Laughlin, Stuart Binny, Dushmantha Chameera, Anureet Singh, Aryaman Vikram Birla, Midhun S, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Jatin Saxena, Ankit Sharma, Mahipal Lomror

The Royals will make a comeback after two years in the IPL. The winners of the very first season will try to zero down on a balanced side as quickly as possible.

Ajinkya Rahane will lead the RR squad after Steve Smith stepped down from the skipper's position. The probable 11 for RR is as follows:

A Rahane(c); R Tripathi; S Smith; S Samson; B Stokes; J Buttler(wk); S Binny; K Gowtham; J Unadkat; D Kulkarni; J Archer.

Rajasthan Royals have a great batting lineup that includes players who can prove to be individual match-winners on their day. They have a lot of experienced batsmen in their lineup like Smith, Rahane, Stokes, Buttler, who can quickly adapt to the situation of the game and play accordingly.

They all can play according to the game and can hit big shots at their will. They also have good fast bowlers in their side like Unadkat, Kulkarni and Stokes. Jofra Archer ha not been tested in Asian conditions yet but he has a good T20 bowling record.

However, they do lack an experienced spinner in the side which can turn into a big drawback as Indian pitches are known for their spinning nature and every team seems to have at least two quality spinners. So, playing with only one spinner can prove costly for the Royals.

#6 Kolkata Knight Riders

Good combination of some young and experienced players

List of players bought by the KKR at the IPL 2018 auction –

Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Mitchell Starc, Chris Lynn, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishank Jaggi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Nitish Rana, Vinay Kumar, Apoorv Wankhade, Rinku Singh, Shivam Mavi, Cameron Delport, Mitchell Johnson, Javin Searless

The two-time champions had to let go of their skipper Gautam Gambhir and some other players as well and tried to completely revamp the squad.

They retained only Narine and Russell and have bought many new players including some U-19 players who recently impressed everyone in the World Cup. Dinesh Karthik will lead this new KKR side and their probable 11 is as follows:

C Lynn; R Uthappa; N Rana; S Gill; D Karthik(c)(wk); A Russell; S Narine; M Starc; V Kumar; K Yadav; K Nagarkoti.

Experienced top order, inform youngsters in the middle order, big hitters down the order and a fearless bowling attack, KKR have everything to start this season on a positive note. They have a good number of Indian batsmen like Karthik, Uthappa, Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill that allows them to go for that extra experienced overseas bowler like Starc.

KKR have changed their side a lot and have come up with a great bowling lineup including pacers like Starc, Russell and quality spinners like Narine and Kuldeep Yadav. In this star-studded lineup, a lot of eyes will be on the young U-19 players, Nagarkoti and Gill, who were in great touch in the recent World Cup win.

#7 Sunrisers Hyderabad

SRH have one of the best sides

List of players bought by the SRH at the IPL 2018 auction –

David Warner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan, Shakib Al-Hasan, Kane Williamson, Yusuf Pathan, Rashid Khan, Ricky Bhui, Deepak Hooda, Siddharth Kaul, T Natarajan, Basil Thampi, Syed Khaleed Ahmed, Sachin Baby, Sandeep Sharma, Chris Jordan, Billy Stanlake, Tanmay Agarwal, Shreevats Goswami, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan

The 2016 champions have tried to follow a similar game plan but with some new players. After retaining only captain David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the SRH brought back some old players like Dhawan and Williamson to maintain the balance.

The probable 11 for SRH is as follows:

D Warner(c); S Dhawan; M Pandey; K Williamson; Shakib al Hasan; W Saha(wk); Y Pathan; R Khan; B Kumar; S Kaul; B Thampi

SRH will start their IPL 2018 campaign with a very strong batting lineup with players who can gradually build their innings. They have a lot of batsmen who can play according to the game and change their run-scoring pace as per the situation.

They have a good spinning combination as well with Shakib-Al-Hasan and wrist spinner Rashid Khan. The duo can prove to be very vital in these sub-continental conditions.

They also have the best death bowler of modern day cricket, Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He has continuously impressed everyone with his performance and has been the most important factor in SRH's bowling.

Looking much stronger than the last season, SRH will try to settle quickly with a good combination and have a positive start.

#8 Royal Challengers Bangalore

Virat Kohli will lead the RCB squad

List of players bought by the RCB at the IPL 2018 auction –

Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Brendon Mccullum, Chris Woakes, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Quinton De Kock, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Manan Vohra, Aniket Choudhary, Navdeep Saini, Murugan Ashwin, Mandeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mohammed Siraj, Anirudha Joshi, Parthiv Patel, Tim Southee, Pavan Deshpande

Last but not the least, RCB are one of the favourites to lift the cup this season. They have always been a star-studded team, but, this time, they have focused on building up a balanced squad.

Virat Kohli will lead the RCB squad and the probable 11 for them is as follows:

B McCullum; P Patel(wk); Virat Kohli(c); AB De Villiers; M Singh; Sarfaraz Khan; C Woakes; W Sundar; T Southee; Y Chahal; U Yadav.

With a balanced batting lineup and a decent bowling lineup, RCB are all set to start their campaign with a rather stable side as compared to their previous seasons. They had issues with their pace attack which they tried to resolve by adding some quality pacers like Woakes, Yadav and Southee to their squad.

Everyone was hoping to see the combination of Kuldeep and Chahal don the reds of RCB but we will witness a different combination, that of Sundar and Chahal. Good news for RCB is that all of their bowlers performed really well in their recent international matchups. Both Woakes and Sundar bagged player of the tournament awards in their respective tournaments.

However, they lack a part-timer who can be used in case a full-time bowler is not doing well on a particular day.

Coming to the batting, a lineup with Kohli, De Villiers and McCullum can go through any bowling lineup they want along with Parthiv and Sarfaraz who add a different flair to the side.

They also have a good bench strength and have a lot of options there too.