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IPL 2018 is all set to begin and the fans of the league are eagerly waiting for their teams to get back in action. The one question that would be on every fan's mind is 'At what place would my team finish in the league'?
IPL has always proved to be an unpredictable tournament and it can be gauged from the fact that the league has had 6 different champions in the 10 seasons.
The prediction of the team's performance gets trickier due to the fact that the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals are making a comeback into the league. This article would attempt to provide an answer to the question.
#8 Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders are a two-time championship winning side and are known for their tactical acumen. This time, though one has to say that the team management seems to have missed a trick or two in the Auction.
The bowling of KKR looks pretty good and there is no big problem there if all players were to regain their full fitness before the 8th of April. The batting strength of the team is an area of concern for Karthik as the middle order looks brittle.
The team would have to rely on the inexperienced Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana to support the captain in controlling the game in the middle overs which is a huge burden on the young shoulders of Gill and Rana.
The team's middle order issue will be sorted only if either of Rana or Gill step up or if KKR manages to find a new star in Ishank Jaggi or Apoorv Wankhade.
The team is also facing injury issues with a number of its top players and with Sunil Narine's participation in the IPL uncertain, it looks like the team will have a tough season.
#7 Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals are making a comeback into the Indian Premier League after a gap of two years and their fans can't wait for the league to start.
The fans would be happy to see the team spend some money and buy a number of big players in the Auction.
The team's batting with the likes of D'Arcy Short, Rahul Tripathi, Ajinkya Rahane, Steven Smith, Jos Butler, Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson is extremely strong and is amongst the best in the league.
The team has some great batsmen and the world's best all-rounders in the shortest format of the game in their team but they lack in bowling.
Unadkat has the tendency to leak runs and the spin department is totally inexperienced with the likes of K Goutham and Shreyas Gopal.
The Sawai Mansingh Stadium where Royals are going to play a majority of their matches is a batting paradise and having a weak bowling attack will be a huge problem.
#6 Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians are the defending champions this year after winning the trophy for the third time in 2017.
Mumbai are the most successful franchise in terms of winning the trophy and have a lot of expectations to meet.
Mumbai team management has been able to retain the core of their 2017 team as they were able to get Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Pandya brothers and Kieron Pollard back into their fold this year.
The problem, however, is with the form of these players.
One can expect Bumrah and Sharma to perform irrespective of their current form but same is not the case with Pandya brothers.
The main reason for Mumbai's victory last year was the way both the Pandyas played. This year hasn't been good for both of them and this will turn out to be a serious problem for the Mumbai Indians in a league as competitive as IPL.
Lack of quality spinners is another problem which Mumbai Indians are facing and they may regret not bidding for Harbhajan Singh at the end of the season.
This season could pose some tough questions to the defending champions as the other teams have improved their squads from last year while Mumbai doesn't have its best players in form.
#5 Royal Challengers Bangalore
Royal Challengers Bangalore are one of the three teams to have never won the league even once.
IPL trophy has been eluding Kohli for the last 10 years and he will be desperate to lay his hands on the trophy this time.
The present RCB squad looks the most balanced squad that the team has had in the last few years as RCB under Kohli had a tendency of placing all their eggs in one basket.
They have always bought the most destructive batsman without paying enough attention to their bowling but this year it has changed.
With the likes of Chris Woakes, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini the team has a decent pace bowling attack. Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Murugan Ashwin form a tremendous spin trio. This RCB bowling attack is the best that the franchise has had.
Quinton De Kock & McCullum will open the batting followed by Kohli at No. 3 and De Villiers at No. 4.
This top four is bound to give nightmares to the opposition bowlers but the problem with RCB is their lack of finishers.
Sarfraz Khan is a great young talent but expecting him to finish the innings everytime is too big a burden for him.
#4 Kings XI Punjab
Kings XI Punjab is a team which has faced more lows than highs in their 10 years in IPL. The owners have tried almost everything within their capacity but have been unable to get the desired results.
The Punjab team management went into the auction with the intention of reshaping their squad.
They have picked a team which can be called as the best squad that the franchise ever had. The batting department, in particular, is flooded with stars.
Gayle and Finch's opening combination is one which any team would love to have. In addition, they have the best domestic players in Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, KL Rahul and the legendary Yuvraj Singh in the middle order.
The team has the world's best finisher in T20s in Miller and two good all-rounders in Stoinis and Axar Patel.
The bowling too looks good as the team has two genuine match-winners in Ashwin and Andrew Tye.
Mohit Sharma would form a good combination with Andrew Tye. This team is filled with wounded tigers like Ashwin, Gayle and Yuvraj who have a point to prove and this season they might want to prove their previous franchises wrong.
#3 Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings is the second team which is making a comeback into the Indian Premier League after a gap of two years and the die-hard fans of CSK can't wait to see their 'Thala'-led team back in Yellow jersey in Chepauk.
CSK retained their core team by having MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Murali Vijay and Faf du Plessis back in their fold.
The one player that Chennai might miss is Ashwin as he was picked by Kings XI Punjab. The Chennai team this year is an average one as the team lacks players in some vital positions.
The Spin attack is an oversized one with a number of quality spinners in the side. The fast bowling department though lacks in experience and quality and is a definite area of concern.
The batting department is an experienced one but it lacks big hitters in the middle order. Dhoni's form will be a crucial factor and his shot-making ability will have to come good this year.
Chennai is a team which under the leadership of Dhoni has performed well irrespective of the strength of their squad.
This year Dhoni has a squad which is suited for the slow pitch of Chepauk and one or two away victories would earn his team a place in the Playoffs as this team is bound to succeed in Chennai.
#2 Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sunrisers Hyderabad is a team which is known for its world-class bowlers. This year the team has a brilliant batting line-up to complement their bowling squad. This team is the most balanced team in the tournament.
Hyderabad has some of the best batsmen in T20s in their team. Warner-Dhawan opening combination has worked pretty well for the team but they lost the cup last year as the team lacked some solid middle order batsmen.
This year they have rectified it as they have Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Deepak Hooda, Shakib Al-Hasan to complement the openers.
Sunrisers bowling attack is the best attack in the entire competition. They have two match winners in Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan.
In addition to these two, they have the best domestic bowlers in Siddarth Kaul, Basil Thampi, T. Natarajan and Sandeep Sharma.
The team looks pretty impressive and one has to say that this team was guaranteed a top-four spot on the auction table itself.
#1 Delhi Daredevils
Delhi Daredevils is the team which has changed the maximum number of captains in IPL history and this stat is enough to give a clear indication of the team's performance over the years.
Delhi has finally managed to get Gambhir back as their captain this year. This news provided a major boost to the fans of Delhi Daredevils. The way the franchise performed in auction earned accolades from the experts.
The team management has built a solid squad and has appointed a captain who has the experience of leading the team to victory.
The batting of Delhi looks impressive with some explosive hitters like Munro, Maxwell and Pant being complemented by the dependable players like Gambhir, Shreyas Iyer and Vijay Shankar.
They have Chris Morris who is amongst the best all-rounders in the world. The bowling too looks good with Rabada, Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem and Mohammed Shami. This may well be the year where Delhi might lift its first ever IPL trophy.
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