IPL 2020: Analyzing The Weak Links Of Each Of The 8 Teams

The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League [IPL] is all set to kickstart from September 19 in the United Arab Emirates [UAE].

All the teams have kickstarted their training after the completion of the mandatory quarantine period and now it is all about honing skills in the nets and zeroing on ideal team-combinations ahead of the IPL.

All the teams are decently balanced this time around but there still exits a few chinks in their armor which- if not addressed at the right time- might come back to haunt them.

Here’s a look at the weaknesses of each of the eight IPL teams ahead of the 13th edition:

Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals strength- gun overseas players- is also their biggest weakness. That is because they are dependent on the overseas exploits of their foreign stars in Jos Buttler, skipper Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, and Jofra Archer in almost every department of the game.

While Yashasvi Jaiswal is still an unknown quantity at the IPL level, barring Sanju Samson and Robin Uthappa, the Royals do not have any experienced Indian batsman in their line-up.

In the bowling department too, they lack the depth of quality death bowlers barring Jofra Archer as none of the Indian bowlers in Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aaron, Ankit Rajpoot are renowned for bowling in the final overs. Karthik Tyagi and Akash Singh, just like Jaiswal, are rookies at this level.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Virat Kohli, in a recent interview, said that this is the most balanced RCB unit since the 2016 IPL.

RCB’s Achilles heel in the past IPL seasons has been the lack of quality fast bowling options and while they seemed to have addressed that with the addition of Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana, and Chris Morris, the main chink in their armor could once again be the lack of quality Indian seamer at the death and a handy finisher.

RCB is once again a top-heavy batting-unit with overdependence on Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli, and AB de Villiers and while they do have Moeen Ali as a potent option as far as batting in the death is concerned, there is no established Indian batsman who can take the innings deep if the top-order falters.

As far as Indian fast bowling stocks are concerned, none of Mohammad Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini are potent death bowlers.

That said, in the end, it will really boil down to the team combinations that Virat and think-tank choose, something that hasn’t been their strongest suit in the past seasons.

Kings XI Punjab

With the tracks in the United Arab Emirates expected to assist the spinners, KXIP’s inexperienced spin-bowling attack could come back to haunt them in the end.

Barring Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman and to an extent Krishnappa Gowtham, in Jagdeesha Suchith, Murugan Ashwin, and rookie Ravi Bishnoi, the KL Rahul-led outfit do not boast of enough experience in the spin-bowling attack.

In addition to that, KXIP only has Mohammed Shami as an experienced pace bowler in their think-tank. With Mohammed Shami not renowned as a death bowler, they would have to bank on overseas stars like Chris Jordan or Sheldon Cottrell or Hardus Viljoen to perform the job, and considering the fact that they have high profile overseas players like Chris Gayle, Glenn Maxwell, Nicholas Pooran, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, it would be really difficult for them to consistently field the likes of Jordan and Cottrell in their starting XI, thus furthering exposing their lack of depth in the Indian fast bowling department.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s perennial weakness in their batting-unit has been the lack of quality Indian batting options in the middle-order.

The ‘Orange Army’ has been heavily dependent on the swashbuckling opening pair of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow in the past and this season too, the story could well be the case, considering the fact that they do not have an established Indian batsman in their ranks barring Manish Pandey.

Also, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is returning after a long layoff and Sid Kaul had a poor season last year as he managed just 6 wickets in 7 games at an average of 40. The form of the duo will be crucial to SRH’s fortunes.

Delhi Capitals

Delhi Capitals have a brilliant mix of youth and experience in their line-up and they will surely be one of the teams’ to watch out for in the upcoming season.

That said, they have a couple of glaring chinks in their armor which are worth mentioning. Firstly, DC is bloated with the top-order batsman in the form of Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan. Even their overseas recruits in Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey are primarily top-order batsmen, which makes their middle-lower order batting very poor.

In the fast bowling department too, barring Kagiso Rabada, DC does not have a quality death bowling option, something that they might come back to haunt them.

Kolkata Knight Riders

A top-six consisting of Tom Banton, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik, Eoin Morgan, and Andre Russell is sure to send down shivers in any opposition bowling-unit.

KKR has one of the strongest squads for the 13th edition of the IPL, but if you delve deep, there are some issues that might prove to be their undoing.

Firstly, there is no able to backup wicketkeeping and all-round options for DK and Dre Russ. Secondly, and the most important, the lack of an experienced Indian pacer.

The likes of Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi are coming off after long injury layoffs and they anyway do not have enough experience at this level.

KKR will be heavily dependent on Pat Cummins in their fast bowling department. But Cummins too is untested when it comes to bowling at the death. They do have Lockie Ferguson in their set-up but given the fact that Russel, Morgan, Narine, and Cummins are likely to start in the playing XI, it will be difficult to slot him in the team.

Chennai Super Kings

Well! If you have a leader like MS Dhoni, do you really need to worry about the weakness, CSK fans?

That said, the ‘Whistle Podu’ gang does have a lot of weaknesses in their set-up which MS will have to contend with this season.

Firstly, the absence of Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh, both of whom have opted out of the tournament due to ‘personal reasons’.

Raina has been the heartbeat of CSK’s batting over the years and his mastery of tackling spin bowling is something CSK will dearly miss on low and slow tracks of the UAE. Also, their overseas, as well as Indian batsman, are mostly retired cricketers or those who are no longer in the reckoning for their national side, and one can’t really predict how they’ll fare.

CSK has enough spin-bowling options but they will certainly miss the experience of Harbhajan Singh. As far as their pace-bowling is concerned, apart from Deepak Chahar and Lungi Ngidi, they do not have enough quality options, especially at the death. The likes of Shardul Thakur have blown hot and cold while Josh Hazlewood too hasn’t been the same force in T20 cricket as compared to the other format.

But, then again, when you have MSD as your leader, why bother worrying about weaknesses.

Mumbai Indians

The defending champions have got most of their bases covered but if there is one department that the ²Mumbai Indians fans will be worried about is their spin-bowling resources.

Barring Krunal Pandya and Rahul Chahar, Mumbai Indians do not have enough quality spinners in their think-tank. And, given the fact that they did not opt for a spin-bowling replacement for Lasith Malinga, it looks like they will be banking on their Indian resources like the ones mentioned above and Anukul Roy, Jayant Yadav.

Also, the absence of a quality death bowler like Lasith Malinga will certainly have its effects despite the fact that they have Jasprit Bumrah in their ranks.

Also Read- IPL 2020: List Of Players Who Are Set To Miss The First Week