IPL 11 is on in full swing. There are magnificent sixes landing in the hands of gung-ho crowds, stupendous fielding efforts trying to stop those and a pumped up crowd reveling throughout the glitz-filled sports extravaganza. Fans are clamoring for their favorite teams to bring the trophy home and speculations are going haywire on who is going to be the one clinching the scintillating title. Like any other cricket fan, we have our favorites as well. “Favorites” because we are divided between two teams who can clinch this year’s title. Our picks are either Sun Risers Hyderabad or Kings XI Punjab. We have our reasons, we will list those for all the fans, lest they get offended,
Here you go. Let’s start from Kings XI Punjab
KXIP’s complete squad : Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, David Miller, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Rajpoot, Manoj Tiwary, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Zadran, Barinder Sran, Andrew Tye, Akshdeep Nath, Ben Dwarshuis, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar, Manzoor Dar
Why they could win
A surprise skipper
When Ravichandran Ashwin was trusted with the reins of the team, everyone was shocked because there were other rightful stakes to the position according to them – Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch. Virendra Sehwag, the team’s coach reasoned the decision, saying that a bowler was chosen as a captain because his knowledge of the game is way too intense and comprehensive. This is not the first time, Ashwin is captaining a side. At 20, he led Tamil Nadu to victory in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. We would be rooting for him to repeat this feat!
The Gayle Storm marries KL Rahul dexterity
As seen in some of the last few matches, the first wicket partnership between Chris Gayle and KL Rahul is so balanced and lethal that it’s emerging as one of the most formidable pairings in this year’s IPL as far as batting is concerned. There are also Aaron Finch, David Miller, Mayank Agarwal, and Karun Nair to bolster their batting line-up.
A bowler captain means a more confident bowling line-up
Ravichandran Ashwin leading the time would mean more room for the bowlers – Axar Patel, Barinder Sran, Mohit Sharma, Andrew Tye, and Mujeeb Zadran to express themselves. Left-handed batsmen could be handled by Ashwin, while the right-handed ones can be taken care of by Mohit Sharma. Tye is known to be a death over specialist while the middle overs are secured by Axar Patel and Marcus Stoinis.
Coming over to Sun Risers Hyderabad
SRH’s complete squad : David Warner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Rashid Khan Arman, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Siddarth Kaul, Deepak Hooda, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Kane Williamson, Carlos Brathwaite, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Shreevats Goswami, Mohammad Nabi, Chris Jordan, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan, Sachin Baby, Bipul Sharma, Syed Mehdi Hasan, Ricky Bhui, Tanmay Agarwal
Why they could win
Plan B is always ready
Sun Risers Hyderabad has a backup player ready in every department – be it bowling (Sandeep Sharma, Natarajan, Basil Thampi), batting (Kane Williamson) or an all-rounder (Carlos Braithwaite, Mohammad Nabi). Wicket-keeping has a backup as well in the form of Wriddhiman Saha. This team along with its strong backup plan has it sorted from every angle.
A beautiful bowling line up
SRH has continuously battered the opposition batting with their in-form pace bowling attack comprising of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Billy Stanlake, and Siddhartha Kaul. Spin bowlers Shakib Al Hasan and Rashid Khan have been successful in clamping down on the run flow in the middle overs. All in all, they have their armor ready irrespective of the batsmen on the opposite side.
Top batting line-up is capable of destroying the most potent bowling line-ups
Shikhar Dhawan’s stellar batting form is the biggest advantage for SRH leveraged by the opening batsmen Kane Williamson and Wriddhiman Saha even more.
We have listed our reasons on why we think this year’s IPL will be either held by KXIP or SRH. Have a different opinion? Tell us in comments
.
Comments
- Advertisement -
