IPL 2011 Season Preview

In the euphoric aftermath of India’s glorious unprecedented World Cup triumph on home soil, the nation is set to host the glitzy, glamorous and, to an extent, crass spectacle of cricketing capitalism that is the DLF Indian Premier League. A nation, high on the ecstasy of an elusive World Cup finally reclaimed after a long, long 28-year multi-generational wait, will now get to sample a sporting event where national fervour takes a backseat, and cheap thrills and wholesome entertainment take centrestage.

 

This World Cup was looked at in some quarters as an acid test to the longevity of the 50-over format that seemed to be on the verge of dying a slow, natural death due to increasing viewer indifference. The resounding success of the tournament, though, coupled with the superlative showings of the three subcontinental giants means that ODI cricket in this part of the globe stays in the pink of health, for a long time to come. So much so, that public interest in this edition of the IPL may well be at levels lower than before. The public has already enjoyed and endured a month and a half of cricketing action, and a further month and a half may be too much for their tired eyeballs. Indeed, one could say this IPL is an acid test to the franchisee-based structure that some predict might be the future of cricket.

Spare a thought for the victorious heroes of India’s campaign, who have barely a week before they don the colours, and in many cases lead, their regional franchises. Purists and IPL cynics alike might hope the stars decline to partake a portion of their riches and take a bit of rest in the early stages of the tournament, but the more pragmatic might suggest that there’s nothing like a bit of cricket to ground a nation afloat and give foreign players with disappointing World Cup campaigns an early shot at redemption.

The IPL auction this year was far bigger and better than ever, for there was a huge pool of players to choose from since the squads were redistributed following the introduction of two new teams, the Sahara Pune Warriors and the Kochi Tuskers Kerala, renamed from the initial Indi Commandos. There was massive drama with courtroom battles, IT department investigations and it wasn’t clear for a long while whether there would indeed be 10 teams competing this season.

The tournament format has undergone a major makeover, and the new one could contest the hotly-debated DRS for a claim to the most complex innovation in cricket. Each of the 10 teams will play 14 matches as before, meaning that each team plays 5 other teams twice (home and away) and 4 other once, hosting 2 and visiting the other 2, and this adds up to a total of 70 league matches. The semifinals have been done away with to ensure fairer chances to the table-toppers in a qualifier structure where the 1^st and 2^nd placed compete for one spot in the final. The loser of that game will take on the winner of an eliminator contest between the 3^rd and 4^th placed sides for the other spot.

Only Chennai and Mumbai ended up retaining the maximum limit of 4 players, while Kolkata, Punjab and Deccan chose to go for a complete overhaul. In total, 12 players continued to represent their previous sides, though a fair few ended up being bought in the auction by their previous owners, most notably in the case of Chennai.

Indian stars continued to rule the roost at the auction, with the top 7 most heavily bid players locals, thanks to their relative scarcity as well as brand value. Gautam Gambhir ‘scored’ over everyone else, at a staggering 2.4 million USD by KKR, followed by Yusuf Pathan and Robin Uthappa at 2.1 each. Mahela Jayawardene, the centurion of the WC final, was the most expensive overseas agent, brought in to lead the side by Kochi for 1.5 million.

Let us look at how the teams stack up and what their respective strengths and weaknesses are that we could expect to see –

Chennai Super Kings:

The CSKs had the most clearly thought-out agenda at the auction tables – to buy back as many players of their IPL and Champions League-winning squad of last season. Hence, their XI is likely to look very similar to seasons past, with their batting the stronger suit, led by the likes of skipper MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Michael Hussey, and backed up by Murali Vijay, Subramaniam Badrinath, Abhinav Mukund.

Albie Morkel and Dwayne Bravo, a new signing in the auction, give the lower middle order a very formidable look while playing key roles as pace bowlers. That means Scott Styris and the young South African, Faf du Plessis, who is, batting apart, an absolute livewire across the turf, will be confined to the bench for the major part.

Dhoni relies heavily on overseas names to bowl pace, for apart from Morkel and Bravo, he has in his arsenal Doug Bollinger, Ben Hilfenhaus and Nuwan Kulasekara. Sudeep Tyagi and Joginder Sharma provide weaker alternatives. Having lost Muttiah Muralitharan to Kochi in a fierce bidding war, spin bowling duties rest on the young shoulders of Ravichandran Ashwin and Shadab Jakati, even as Raina is more than capable of breaking partnerships.

Mumbai Indians:

The core of their team stays the same, as Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Kieron Pollard and Lasith Malinga were all retained. South African keeper Davy Jacobs will get the privilege of partnering the big man up top, and the mercurial Andrew Symonds bolsters the middle order, though how he gels with Harbhajan Singh after their Sydney feud is what all eyeballs will be glued to. Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Rajagopal Satish and Tirumalasetti Suman complete the batting order.

Zaheer Khan’s loss is a massive blow, so it will be up to Munaf Patel to complement the fiery Malinga well. Bhajji is a certainty and Dhawal Kulkarni completes the XI. Aussie Aiden Blizzard may be called on to add muscle to the middle order while James Franklin and Moises Henriques are handy allrounders waiting in the wings.

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Surprisingly, RCB decided to retain just the one player in Virat Kohli, and they may have been better served holding on to the likes of Jacques Kallis, Robin Uthappa and Dale Steyn along with Kohli for the stipulated 4.5 million, seeing as they collectively fetched far more in the open market.

They have, nevertheless, made something of a killing in the auction, with the destructive duo of AB De Villiers and Tillekaratne Dilshan looking like real steals given their blazing form at the World Cup. Saurabh Tiwary looks massively overpriced at 1.6 million USD, but along with Cheteshwara Pujara and Kohli is part of a promising young trio of batsmen. They have been very unfortunate to lose Manish Pandey, the IPL’s first Indian centurion to Pune since he is under-21 and hasn’t represented India, and hence was not available for retention or in the auction. Luke Pomersbach and Johan van der Vath add big hitting skills if need be.

In the absence of Anil Kumble, another inspirational spinner, Daniel Vettori will lead the outfit. Zaheer Khan is back after a stint in Mumbai, as is Abhimanyu Mithun. Dirk Nannes brings pace to the table, and Charl Langeveldt control.

Deccan Chargers:

The Chargers have gone for a massive overhaul despite a decent tournament and it must be said have done a very good job at the auction. Kumar Sangakkara leads a power-packed batting order in Kevin Pietersen, Cameron White, JP Duminy, with Michael Lumb and Daniel Christian likely to prove surplus to requirements. The lack of solid local batting talent may hit them hard as they have just Shikhar Dhawan and Ravi Teja among domestically notable names.

Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra are two of India’s best fringe spin bowlers, and should bowl well in tandem. The menacing Dale Steyn has Rusty Theron for company, along with starlet Ishant Sharma and Manpreet Gony in the pace battery.

Delhi Daredevils:

DD might just have missed a trick at the auction, for they seem to have gone for quantity over quality and end up with a deep squad with very few star names. Virender Sehwag returns to lead a side that should really have held on to his Delhi and India mate Gautam Gambhir, AB De Villiers, Tillekaratne Dilshan or Daniel Vettori.

Their squad boasts of a number of bits-and-pieces players who will have to add up to more than the sum of their individual parts to make a mark. Ajit Agarkar, Robert Frylinck, James Hopes, Colin Ingram, Andrew McDonald, Yogesh Nagar, Irfan Pathan and Roelof van der Merwe all come from a pretty similar mould in that regard. The fees paid to Irfan Pathan, in particular, of 1.9 million, seem particularly exorbitant on current form.

Sehwag and David Warner is a pairing waiting to explode at the top, and Aaron Finch, Matthew Wade and Venugopal Rao will follow. Morne Morkel will be partnered by Umesh Yadav and Aavishkar Salvi while Van der Merwe seems to be the only spin bowler of any repute.

Kings XI Punjab:

Yuvraj Singh is a notable absentee and Adam Gilchrist will pick up the reins for the Kings. It’s hard to say just how much they may achieve for they do have players of potential, but very few from domestic stables. They seemed to be incredibly reluctant to splurge cash around at the auction and that may end up hurting them.

Their batting will depend heavily on the foreign trio of Gilchrist, David Hussey and Shaun Marsh. Dinesh Karthik and Abhishek Nayar lead the local talent. Praveen Kumar and Ryan McLaren could be billed as allrounders and Mandeep Singh from the under-19 circles show promise too.

Kumar and McLaren will join Ryan Harris in the seam bowling attack. Piyush Chawla continues to essay the lone spinner. They have, of course, been very unfortunate to lose English allrounders Stuart Broad and Dimitri Mascarenhas to injuries even before the tournament commences.

Rajasthan Royals:

The Royals were handicapped by a 2 million USD salary cap penalty, and in that setting have assembled an impressive unit, though the lack of Indian players with international T20 exposure will cause concern. Shane Warne is into his 42^nd year, and while his contribution as a player is surely very limited, his captaincy and ability to inspire led to him being retained. Don't be surprised though if he doesn't play every single game.

Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Paul Collingwood and Rahul Dravid are all class players, and Ajinkya Rahane, prolific in domestic circles, is a good selection. Shaun Tait will trouble most local batsmen with his pace, and Siddharth Trivedi and Pankaj Singh will be under pressure to support him well. Watson can be a matchwinner with the ball as well, and Johan Botha partnering Warne will see a lot of variety in the spin department.

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Like CSK, Kolkata went into the auction with a well-defined agenda in place. Lack of local talent had ensured they were the only team to not make the semis in either of the 3 seasons past, and they clearly sought to redress that.

Dropping Dada is not likely to be the most popular decision they will make, but their auction buys clearly reflect good cricketing and business sense. They splurged literally half their cash on just two names in Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan, but considering that they are proven matchwinners and are Indian internationals, the paychecks are justified. Jacques Kallis was a claas act last season for the RCB, and will, in all likelihood, open with Gambhir. The inventive Eoin Morgan, Shakib Al Hasan and Brad Haddin populate the middle order and Manoj Tiwary will probably join the lineup.

Brett Lee spearheads the bowling with L Balaji, Jaidev Unadkat and Pradeep Sangwan the other seamers. Although young Iqbal Abdulla is the only specialist spinner chosen, Shakib and Yusuf will likely bowl 8 full overs. Shakib also brings in a massive Bangladeshi fan following.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala:

Despite the fact that it was their debut at the IPL, the Tuskers did very well at the auction, targeting some established names, and have a squad that is markedly better than some others, at the outset. A formidable lineup of international batting stars including skipper Mahela Jayawardene, Brendon McCullum, Brad Hodge, backed by Michael Klinger and Owais Shah, are supported by VVS Laxman, Parthiv Patel and Kedar Jadhav.

They also boast a clutch of matchwinning allrounders including the big-hitting Thisara Perera, John Hastings, Steven Smith and Ravindra Jadeja. For seam bowling, they lean heavily on a cast of erratic domestic stars in Sreesanth, Vinay Kumar and RP Singh, though the latter is also the IPL’s highest wicket-taker across 3 seasons for Deccan. Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan was prised away from Chennai and Ramesh Powar will lend backup.

Sahara Pune Warriors:

Like Kochi, they have done better at the auction than some of the established sides. Importantly, they seem to have struck the right balance between Indian and international stars, and we have seen how a surplus of internationals does a team no good when the domestic talent is weak. Their biggest buys were Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa for a collective 3.9 million USD.

Manish Pandey was lured away from RCB in a manner whose morality is still debated, and he will sit out a 4 match ban for it. Graeme Smith, Jesse Ryder, Tim Paine, Callum Ferguson and Mitchell Marsh add up to a powerhouse batting lineup.

Sadly, Angelo Mathews’ injury in the World Cup means he will sit out the IPL, and Mithun Manhas may be used as an allround option. Murali Kartik and Nathan McCullum shore up spin bowling options, while the pace bowlers include Ashish Nehra, Jerome Taylor and Wayne Parnell.

It’s very hard to pick out favourites, especially for a T20 tournament, but on paper, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune seem to be relatively strong contenders, particularly because their strength lies in their respective Indian contingents. However, every prediction may go for a six as an inspired outfit is every bit a match for a stronger one on paper when they face off on the field. Let’s hope this edition of a revamped IPL lives up to the previous seasons, and gives the Indian summer that has witnessed a historic World Cup triumph a strong send-off!