MUMBAI INDIANS
Captain Rohit Sharma
Coach Mahela Jayawardene
Last season Winners
Title wins 4
Top four 8
Squad Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, James Pattinson, Mitchell McCleneghan, Quinton de Kock, Rahul Chahar, Rohit Sharma, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Mohsin Khan, Digvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary
What to expect. The holders. The favourites. Should qualify because they have guts and adaptability, which is crucial for a squad picked for their home surface in Wankhede. But they could come up short and a back-to-back title given the switch in conditions would be an extraordinary feat.
Chennai Super Kings
Captain MS Dhoni
Coach Stephen Fleming
Last season Runners-up
Title wins 3
Top four 10
Squad Ambati Rayudu, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Im-ran Tahir, N Jagadeesan, Karn Sharma, Kedar Jadhav, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Monu Singh, MS Dhoni, M Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shane Watson, Shar-dul Thakur, Sam Curran, Piyush Chawla, Josh Hazlewood, R Sai Kishore
What to expect
A strong and smart squad with few chinks. Alas, one of them could be fatal. They are hugely relaint on Sam Curran providing left-arm pace and left-hand bat in the top order because they are vulnerable to the ball spinning away. But we expect brain boxes MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming to know this. They should waltz into the play-offs where they will hope to exact revenge after last year’s final loss to Mumbai.
Delhi Capitals
Captain Shreyas Iyer
Coach Ricky Ponting
Last season 3rd
Title wins 0
Top four 4
Squad Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Keemo Paul, Prithvi Shaw, R Ashwin, Rishabh Pant, Sandeep Lamichhane, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Mohit Sharma, Shimron Hetmyer, Tushar Deshpande, Lalit Yadav, Daniel Sams
What to expect Could be unstoppable. Could be chaotic. Delhi have all the right players. But will they play them in the right order? Marcus Stoinis could derauil their whole campaign unless he opens the batting. A position they are overstocked in. If he doesn’t play a game they should go very close to a final.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Captain David Warner
Coach Trevor Bayliss
Last season 4th
Title wins 1
Top four 5
Squad Abhishek Sharma, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Billy Stanlake, David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Mitchell Marsh, Fabian Allen, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Sanjay Yadav, Abdul Samad, Sandeep Bawanaka
What to expect Sunrisers are hopeless at defending a target but brilliant at chasing – normally because their bowlers have squeezed sides expertly. It’s a bit of a mystery as to why they struggle so much defending. A great first XI but little depth. Will struggle in the play-offs if Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi are unavailable as expected.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Coach Simon Katich
Last season 6th
Title wins 0
Top four 5
Squad AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Gurkeerat Singh, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Parthiv Patel, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Virat Kohli, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Josh Philippe, Shahbaz Ahamad, Kane Richardson, Isuru Udana, Pavan Deshpande, Chris Morris, Dale Steyn, Aaron Finch, Kane Richardson
What to expect A lot of people reckon this could be RCB’s year. But a lot of people think they every year. The truth is this is their best chance but it’s hardly saying much because they have been consistently dumb in squad selection. They are stronger with the ball this year but the balance is not quite right. Will do well to qualify.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Captain Dinesh Karthik
Coach Bredon McCullum
Last season 5th
Title wins 2
Top four 6
Squad Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Siddhesh Lad, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, M Sidharth, Eoin Morgan, Rahul Tripathi, Pat Cummins, Nikhil Naik, Pravin Tambe, Chris Green, Tom Banton
What to expect The most powerful batting line-up in T20 ever assembled. But is their bowling good enough? They have really struggled to defend scores. The KKR way is to blow away teams with the bat. It’s a bold, entertaining approach. But it will be surprising if they manage to claim a third title with such a strategy because the UAE pitches do not suit big hitters.
KingsXI
Captain KL Rahul
Coach Anil Kumble
Last season 6th
Titles 0
Top four 2
Squad Arshdeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Darshan Nalkande, K Gowtham (T), Hardus Viljoen, Harpreet Brar, J Suchith, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb ur Rahman, M Ashwin, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Tajinder Dhillon, Prabhsimran Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Chris Jordan, Glenn Maxwell, James Neesham, Sheldon Cottrell, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Porel
What to expect A sort of KKR-light. They have tremendous batting power. But very little bowling. Their qualification hopes rest on a clutch of unheralded domestic bowlers coming good. Otherwise they’re relying on India’s Mohammad Shami, which isn’t a great look. Unlikely to make last four.
Rajasthan Royals
Captain Ajinkya Rahane
Coach Paddy Upton
Last season 7th
Title wins 1
Top four 4
Squad Ankit Rajpoot, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Sanju Samson, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Steven Smith, Varun Aaron, Kartik Tyagi, Anuj Rawat, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Akash Singh, David Miller, Robin Uthappa, Jaydev Unadkat, Aniruddha Joshi, Andrew Tye, Tom Curran, Oshane Thomas
What to expect Rajasthan are probably the weakest. But they will be well-led and will squeeze everything out of their squad. Ben Stokes is a doubt to play but this may not be a bad thing for the squad as it gives others the chance to step up and make the Royal multi-dimensional. Will spring a few surprises.