Thursday, September 2, 2010

Greg Wilcox looks into his crystal ball to see who will hit rivals for six in the third IPL - and tips Delhi to dominate

With professional bighead and IPL chief Lalit Modi claiming his cash cow will soon be bigger than the English Premier League, the third edition of the Twenty20 tournament has a lot to live up to.

With the ‘Blue Billion’, shed loads of sponsors behind it, and big-name cricketers keen to make a quick buck, the cricket circus was always going to be a success.

But bigger than a football competition with over a hundred years of history and fans in an equally large number of countries? Don’t make us laugh.

What is not in doubt however, based on the first two editions, is that the IPL is here to stay and, although not as big as
English football’s top flight or Modi’s ego, is an important, exciting tournament everyone wants to win.

Before the first IPL Indians didn’t really ‘get’ Shane Warne.

Sachin Tendulkar and Co had smashed him to all parts of various grounds whenever India played the Aussies, and for many on the subcontinent his greatness was as overblown as a Harbhajan Singh celebration of a Test wicket.

But the spin king was nothing short of sensational in leading his unfancied Rajasthan Royals to the inaugural title as India finally understood what all the fuss was about.

Last year it was the turn of another awesome Aussie to guide his side to glory. Deccan Chargers’ Adam Gilchrist hit 495 runs as once again an unfancied side went all the way.

Will this year see an end to the Australian twist of the Indian tournament?

The action begins this weekend, so 7DAYS looks through its crystal ball to find out who will be T20 kings in six weeks time…

TEAM: BANGALORE ROYAL CHALLENGERS
KEY MAN: Dale Steyn
CHANCES: Final four
Having been rubbish in the first season they went all the way to final last year. Under Anil Kumble they now have a fixed leader, team stability and in Eoin Morgan and Cameron White players made for T20. However, their weak bowling attack
could be their undoing.

TEAM: CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
KEY MAN: MS Dhoni
CHANCES: Group stages
Having got to the final in 2008 and semis last year the Super Kings will be hoping to reign supreme this year. However, injuries to Andrew Flintoff and Jacob Oram have hit Dhoni’s men. A weak bowling attack means they will have to hope Dhoni and Matt Hayden score a lot of runs to keep them in contention.

TEAM: DECCAN CHARGERS
KEY MAN: Andrew Symonds
CHANCES: Final four
On paper last year’s winners still look a tough team to beat. But with Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist either in poor form or without any match practice it will be brave man to predict a repeat performance.

TEAM: DELHI DAREDEVILS
KEY MAN: David Warner
CHANCES: Winners
As with the previous two seasons they are the team to beat. If Aussie Warner can keep up the form he showed against West Indies, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir get their fair share of runs, big signing Wayne Parnell leads the attack and they don’t choke (a big ask, we know), then this could be their year.

TEAM: KINGS XI PUNJAB
KEY MAN: Yuvraj Singh
CHANCES: Group stages
A lot depends how quickly dynamic duo Yuvraj and Brett Lee get back to full fitness. If they can recover to support captain Kumar Sangakkara, and Irfan Pathan can get in the wickets, then the men from Mohali could be very tough to stop.  

TEAM: KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
KEY MAN: Shane Bond
CHANCES: Group stages
Even though they have finished sixth and last in the first two IPLs KKR have been easily the most entertaining side in the competition - but that’s for events off the pitch rather than on it. However, with Shane Bond and
Chris Gayle in the starting XI they can argue they have the two most explosive players in the event.

TEAM: MUMBAI INDIANS
KEY MAN: Sachin Tendulkar
CHANCES: Final four
Skipper Sachin Tendulkar is, for obvious reasons, in fine form and if he can be supported by Dwayne Bravo then they could get to the semis.

TEAM: RAJASTHAN ROYALS
KEY MAN: Graeme Smith
CHANCES: Group stages
With Shane Warne at the helm anything is possible but even with pace ace Shaun Tait in the squad the 2008 winners will struggle.