One weakness of each team for the upcoming IPL season

The 2020 IPL season is less than three weeks away. Most of the teams have got their bases covered for the upcoming season. There are, however, some weaknesses that each side may experience during the 7 weeks long 2020 IPL season.

On that note, here is a look at one such weakness of each team which may hamper their chances in the upcoming IPL season:

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#1. Mumbai Indians- Lack of experienced spinners

Rahul Chahar will be the primary spinning weapon for Mumbai Indians

The four-times IPL champions have a well-balanced team with a group of experienced players and a bunch of talented youngsters. While the batting and the fast bowling is in safe hands for the 2020 IPL season, the only cause of concern for the Mumbai Indians this IPL season will be the lack of experienced spinners.

As far as spinning options are concerned, the defending champions have the likes of Rahul Chahar, Krunal Pandya, and Jayant Yadav, who can take on spinning duties. However, what Mumbai Indians lack is a spinner who has considerable experience of playing cricket at the international level.

While Rahul Chahar has a successful 2019 IPL season, the 20 year old spinner will have to replicate his performances in the upcoming IPL season in order to enable Mumbai Indians to taste success especially in matches where the surfaces suit spin bowling.

Also see – World Test Championship points table

Krunal Pandya has been an integral part of the Mumbai Indians outfit since a few seasons and has changed the course of a game with his all-round skills. However, his bowling has been taken to the cleaners in the last season and he lost his place in the national team. The 2020 IPL season provides a perfect platform for Krunal to make a comeback to the Indian T20 team.

Jayant Yadav has not played much of IPL cricket and is very unlikely to feature in the playing 11 this IPL season too.

All in all, the team will be heavily dependent on Rahul Chahar as their spinning option and will be dependent on their strong pace attack in the upcoming season.

The main concern for the Mumbai franchise will be slow low surfaces and lack of an experienced spinner in case Rahul Chahar is injured or is not in the best of form in the 2020 IPL season.

#2. Chennai Super Kings- Lack of young dynamic openers

Shane Watson is an integral part of the CSK outfit

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have been the most consistent team in the history of the IPL. They have qualified for the top 4 in all nine seasons they have played, and they won the coveted trophy on three occasions - in 2010, 2011 and 2018.

The year 2019 was a near-perfect one for CSK until they lost the final to Mumbai Indians by the narrowest margin of one run.

CSK have four options as openers in the upcoming IPL season. Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu and Murali Vijay are the options available for CSK at the top of the order.

Watson and Faf du Plessis will in all likelihood open the batting for CSK in the 2020 IPL season.

After retiring from international cricket, Watson has been participating in T20 leagues around the world and is making his presence felt.

However, 2019 was a mixed year for Watson when he scored 3 half-centuries in the tournament out of which 2 were in the last two games. He struggled in the remainder of the matches. It will be interesting to see if Watson will create the same impact at the top of the order for CSK as he has done in the past.

Faf du Plessis had a consistent 2019 IPL. He has a strike rate of 126.74 in IPL cricket and takes time to get going. He is not a powerful striker like Gayle or Warner. He has not been in the best of touches in 2019 and was not a regular part of the South African T20 sqaud in 2019 season.

Another option for CSK at the top of the order is Ambati Rayudu. He had a prolific 2018 season at the top of the order. But an indifferent 2019 IPL may force the team management to have Rayudu bat in the middle order for the 2020 IPL season.

Murali Vijay has tasted success for CSK in the past as an opener. However. he has played just 3 matches in the last couple of seasons and has been amongst the reserves.

What CSK lack is a young opener who can go after the bowling from the word go and take advantage of the powerplay overs. CSK will be dependent on make shift openers like Faf du Plessis and Rayudu who have tasted success in the past for the team.

#3. Delhi Capitals- Injury/ Withdrawal of key overseas players

Woakes has made himself unavailable for the 2020 IPL season

Delhi Capitals (DC) are the only team amongst the 8 teams participating in the 2020 IPL season who have yet to reach the finals of a IPL tournament.

DC have a well balanced team for the 2020 IPL season. The batting comprises of strong Indian players in Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahance, Rishabh Pant. The spin bowling too is in the safe hands of the experienced trio of Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Axar Patel.

The biggest set back for DC at the beginning of the 2020 IPL season is the withdrawal of Chris Woakes from the upcoming IPL season.

The English all-rounder who was acquired by the DC franchise in the 2020 IPL auction, has made himself unavailable for the 2020 IPL season. The all-rounder is a crucial player who can be effective with the new ball and in the death overs. Woakes is a handy batsman lower down the order and can score quick runs in crucial situations. The all-rounder was a vital member of the 2019 England team who won the World Cup on their home soil. The non availability of Woakes will be a big set back for DC.

Kagiso Rabada was one of the star players for DC in the 2019 IPL season. He picked up 25 wickets in 12 games in 2019 IPL. A groin injury ruled Rabada out of the recently concluded ODI series against Australia. Rabada is expected to miss at least the first week of the 2020 IPL due to the said injury. It will be interesting to see how Rabada copes post the injury and when he will be able to bowl at full strength for DC.

The non-availability of Woakes and injury to Rabada may hamper the chances of DC in the 2020 IPL season.

#4. Kings X1 Punjab- Lack of experienced Indian fast bowlers

Shami will spearhead the pace bowling for the Kings

The franchise from Punjab lacks experienced Indian fast bowlers for the 2020 IPL season. Apart from Mohammed Shami, none of the other Indian fast bowlers have played international cricket and may struggle bowling to the Indian as well as international batsmen in the power play as well as death overs.

The likes of Ishan Porel, Darshan Nalkande and Arshdeep Singh are the Indian fast bowlers in the squad apart from the experienced Shami. While Porel has had a successful 2019-2020 Ranji Trophy season, the likes of Nalkande and Singh are yet to make their presence felt on the domestic stage. It will be difficult for the said youngsters to make an immediate presence felt on the big IPL stage.

The Kings will be dependent on overseas pacers in Hardus Vilijoen, Sheldon Cottrell and Chris Jordan for the upcoming IPL season. With the likes of Gayle, Maxwell and Mujeeb Ur Rahman likely to feature as overseas players in most of the matches, only 1 out of Vilijoen, Cottrell and Jordan will be able to have a place in the playing 11. This will compel the Kings to have one of the inexperienced Indian fast bowlers to feature in the playing 11.

The lack of experienced Indian fast bowlers may hurt the Kings in the upcoming IPL season.

#5. Kolkata Knight Riders- Unsettled opening combination

Gill is an exciting young prospect for Indian cricket

Chris Lynn was released by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of the 2020 IPL auction and their opening combination will be affected due to his absence. KKR have four options in Sunil Narine, Rahul Tripathi, Tom Banton and Shubman Gill to open the batting for KKR.

Though Sunil Narine has done well as an opener for KKR in few IPL matches, he cannot be termed as a specialist opener and there is always an element of risk opening the batting with him.

Rahul Tripathi has struggled in the last couple of seasons in the IPL. He averaged a mere 23.50 in the 2019 season and batted in the middle order on most occasions. It will be interesting to see if KKR open the innings with Tripathi who made a name for himself in the 2017 IPL season while opening the batting.

Tom Banton was acquired by KKR in the recent auction and the 21-year-old in all likelihood will open the innings for KKR. Banton is an aggressive batsman at the top of the order and has tasted success at the domestic level. However, IPL is a different ball game and he will be tested in conditions alien to him.

Though Gill has opened the batting for KKR in the past, the management will be keen to have Gill in the middle order. The presence of Russell, Morgan, Karthik and Gill in the middle order adds balance to the team.

KKR may have Banton and Narine as openers at the beginning of the IPL season. However, if the experiment with Narine fails, they may back Tripathi to open the innings with Banton.

KKR lack experience and openers who have tasted success in the past in IPL and will be hopeful that Narine and Banton get them to a flying start each time they open the innings

#6. Sun Risers Hyderabad- Lack of expereince in the middle order

Warner will lead SRH in the 2020 IPL season

David Warner will be leading Sun Risers Hyderabad (SRH) for the 2020 IPL season. The likes of Warner, Bairstow, Williamson and Rashid are likely to be the four overseas players who will most likely feature in the playing 11 in most of the matches.

The top 4 of SRH for 4 the 2020 IPL season is likely to comprise of Warner, Bairstow, Williamson and Manish Pandey. It will be interesting to see who bats at number 5, 6 and 7 for the SRH franchise. SRH have options in Nabi, Mitchell Marsh and Allen who can play the role of a finishers. However, it is very unlikely that the trio will get a game considering that Warner, Bairstow, Williamson and Rashid will feature in most matches.

SRH will be dependent on the likes of Vijay Shankar who has been out of favour with the selectors post the 2019 World Cup. Wriddhiman Saha and Shreevats Goswami are other options which SRH have in their squad. None of the said players fit in the role of a finisher who can change the course of a game in the course of an over or so.

If the top 4 batsmen fail to get going or are dismissed cheaply, SRH have few options of players who can play the role of a finisher for the 2020 IPL season.

#7. Rajasthan Royals- Over dependence on overseas players

Stokes will be the key player for Rajasthan Royals

For the upcoming IPL season, the franchise will be dependent on their overseas players. The injury to Archer is a big set back for the RR team but the likes of Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, David Miller, Tom Curran, Andrew Tye and Oshane Thomas all have considerable expereince of playing international cricket and the management has the problem of plenty as far as overseas players are concerned.

As far as the Indian players are concerned, apart from the likes of Samson, Shreyas Gopal and Sanju Samson none of the other players warrant an automatic place in the playing 11.

Uthappa has struggled to get going in the previous two editions of the IPL. He will be hopeful that a change of franchise will lead to change in fortunes in the 2020 IPL season.

In case of injuries, RR will look to rely on the likes of Manan Vohra . Vohra did not feature in a single game in the previous edition of the IPL and played just 4 matches in 2018. He has been short of match practice in IPL and may find it difficult to get going immediately.

Yashasvi Jaiswal is an exciting young prospect who has been in prolific form in Under 19 cricket. However, IPL is a different ball game and it will be interesting to see if the management will go ahead with Jaiswal.

The likes of Varun Aaron and Ankit Rajpoot too have not been an automatic choice in the playing 11 due to their indifferent form.

Thus the team will go heavily dependent on the overseas players for the upcoming IPL season.

#8. Royal Challengers Bangalore- Over dependence on few players

Virat Kohli will look for his maiden IPL trophy

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have qualified for the IPL final on three occasions - in the years 2009, 2011 and 2016. However, they are yet to win the coveted IPL trophy.

RCB have had a horrendous run in the last three years. They finished last on the points table in the years 2017 and 2019, and sixth out of eight teams in 2018.

The biggest weakness of the RCB franchise is that they heavily depend upon the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to score runs. In case either of them fails or both fail to get going, the team struggles and the fate of the game is decided at that very moment.

The team will need the experience of players like Finch, Ali and Patel to support the likes of Kohli and de Villiers to get the big scores.

The bowling too needs to be consistent. Yadav, Siraj, Dube and Saini will be under the watchful eyes of Steyn who will look to mentor the young Indian bowlers.

All in all, RCB have the all-round depth but over dependence on few players has let to their downfall in IPL cricket.