AN ANALYSIS OVER IPL Season 4 – Part I

After successful journey with ICC World Cup 2011, the entire nation is ready to face another Cricket festival, Indian Premier League 4. Unlike, the last 2 seasons of IPL, this season is going to be more interesting with the inclusion of 2 new teams to the league, Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Pune Warriors India. Also, the 2011 auctions gave an opportunity to the Stake holders to rebuild or reengineer their respective teams. We saw major transfers between the teams and inclusion of new talents into the teams which has resulted no favorites or all favorites for the title. This is an effort to give you an overview on IPL 4.


Starting with the Defending Champions Chennai Super Kings –

1. Chennai Super Kings

The India’s most successful captain, second Captain to get World Cup to India and only Wicket Keeper-captain of world cricket to complete 100 matches as captain – Mahendra Singh Dhoni is one of the key players that CSK retained the services ahead of the IPL auction 2011, along with Murali Vijay, Suresha Raina, and Albei Morkel. However, not only they managed to get the other key players whom they had auctioned, like Badrinath, Ashwin, Doug Bollinger and Mike Hussey but also managed to get some new inspirational picks like Dwayne Bravo and Faf du Plessis. They also have youngsters on their side Yo Mahesh and Anirudh Srikkanth. They are full of Strengths and Opportunities, but not to forget that they do not have Muralidaran on their side now, which is the only loss they have undergone which is not going to matter with new talents coming in same team being played as IPL 3.



2. Royal Challengers Bangalore

My favorite team, the Royals have played their best in the last 2 editions after a disastrous 2nd place from last in the first season of IPL. This time other than Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble they kept all the players for auction and bought no one back. Anil Kumble, after been chosen as President of Karnataka State Cricket Association, he retired from IPL as a player and joined RCB as Asst. Coach with Ray Jennings. But, during the auctions, RCB found some veteran and T20 Specialists like Dilshan, De Villiers and Dirk Nannes from Delhi, Saurabh Tiwary and Zaheer Khan from Mumbai. Under the captaincy of Daniel Vettori, openers like Dilshan and ABD, followed by Kohli, Tiwary and Pujara, with their left arm top notch pace bowling attack by Dirk Nannes and Zaheer, supported by captain Vettori and young Mithun.

What they are missing is undisputed Mr. Dependable Wall and Jacques Kallis. They are also going to miss the young talents like Manish Pandey and Robin Uttappa. Most importantly the on-field leader Kumble though he will be there in the dressing room along with Ray Jennings and Venkatesh Prasad. They also have young emerging talents like CM Gautam and Abrar Kaazi which is a proving ground for them. The only question they got to answer is “Can the 2 time Semi Finalist RCB win the Title this time?”



3. Mumbai Indians

Though they have lost their best of the All Rounders like Bravo, Tiwary during the auction, they found some promising veteran support into the team with Andrew Symonds, Kieron Pollard, Malinga and Bhajji joining the team lead by the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar.

They have the Stars in their team; however, they have to overcome certain threats which can be turned into opportunities. The one big concern which Sachin is the only best person handle is the old “famous” fight of Symmo and Bhajji which might affect the team. Another concern around performance would be again Bhajji and Munaf, Bhajji being wicket less and Munaf’s death over bowling. They have a got Top and Top Middle order, but I do not see much of strength in the tail in case there is a unexpected collapse of batting order.

But, the most effective weapon they have which will impact the opponents psychology by at least 10% is the master Sachin Tendulkar.

Tomorrow, we will have a look at the Rajasthan Royals (Winners of IPL 1), Deccan Chargers (Winners of IPL 2) and Delhi Daredevils (3 Time Semi Finalists).