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IPL Mania - CSK dominance and RCB hopeful

cricket21 March 2024 14:24| © MWP
By:Brendon Atwell
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The 17th edition of the Tata Indian Premier League lifts off on Friday, 22 March when current champions Chennai Super Kings face off against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai.

Chennai will be one of the firm favourites after clinching their fifhth title last season while RCB will be looking to emulate their female counterparts, in winning their first title.

RCB have had a plethora of talent - Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa and Mohammed Siraj - but the men from Bengaluru have yet to lift the iconic IPL trophy.

Last season they ended sixth and in 2022 they lost in the second Qualifier. In 2020 and 2021 they lost in the Eliminator.

In fact, RCB have made the final on three occasions, 2009, losing to the Deccan Charges, 2011 losing to the Super Kings and in 2016, losing to the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

In 2023, RCB failed to impress as they finished sixth with Faf du Plessis in his first season as captain.

However, the franchise made sweeping changes to their coaching staff in the hope of finding glory.

Director of Cricket Mike Hesson and head coach Sanjay Bangar were replaced with Zimbabwean Andy Flower.

Flower, who played 63 tests and 213 ODIs for Zimbabwe, also coached the England Men's cricket team.

Flower has experience in the T20 circus, coaching the Multan Sultans, St Lucia Zouks and served as head honcho for the Lucknow Super Giants for two seasons, guiding his side to two consecutive third-placed finishes.

RCB will be hoping for the Flower-Du Plessis magic to work in bringing home a first IPL title.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Player transfers in the IPL are turning out to be as intriguing as the English Premier League.

Australian allrounder Cameron Green's signing for the Mumbai Indians in 2023, to fill the void left by Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard, turned out to be a great move.

Green scored 452 runs in his first season with a top-score of 100 not out as well as picking up six wickets in his IPL debut season.

However, the need to build a strong Indian core for IPL 2024, Mumbai needed to offload one of their biggest budget players, with Green being the one to go.

The Australian was traded to the Royal Challengers Bangalore for the price Mumbai paid for him last season.

Pandya, who left Mumbai for the Gujurat Titans back in 2022, is back with his old franchise.

Pandya was made captain in the first season and led his side to IPL glory in 2022, becoming the first captain after the late Shane Warne to lead a side to glory in their first season.

Pandya also came close to winning back-to-back titles but lost out to Chennai in last year's final.

STAYING PUT

A number of South African players were retained by their respective franchises after the IPL auction took place.

Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi were retained by the Delhi Capitals, although Ngidi, who has the best bowling average in the IPL, has had to withdraw due to injury.

David Miller was kept by the Gujurat Titans while Quinton de Kock, despite only playing four matches last season, was retained by the Lucknow Super Giants.

The exciting Dewald Brevis remains at the Mumbai Indians, where former Proteas Coach Mark Boucher leads the pack, while the Proteas leading paceman, Kagiso Rabada will play for the Punjab Kings.

Du Plessis, such a mainstay for the Chennai Super Kings over the years, will remain as captain for the Royal Challengers Bangalore while Donovan Ferreira turns out for the Rajasthan Royals.

The Sunrisers Hyderbad love South Africa, as epitomised by their SA20 success, have retained the services of Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen and the most explosive batsmen in T20 cricket at the moment, Heinrich Klaasen.

Markram was dumped as the captain of Sunrisers Hyderbad in favour of Australian Pat Cummins as Markram led the Sunrisers to just four wins in 14 matches, this despite leading the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to back-to-back SA20 titles.

Four South Africans were sold at the latest auction with Tristan Stubbs joining Nortje at the Capitals while the exciting Gerald Coetzee joins Brevis at the Mumbai Indians.

Rilee Rossouw was picked up by the Punjab Kings while Nandre Burger joins Ferreira at the Rajasthan Royals.

LUCKY FOR SOME, UNLUCKY FOR OTHERS

Tabraiz Shamsi - so iconic in making a telephone call with his boot when claiming a wicket - hasn't featured in the IPL since 2021, when he only played one match.

Shamsi went unsold at the last auction as did Rassie van der Dussen.

The right-handed top-order batsman is quite capable of destroying any attack on his day, but has not featured in the IPL since 2022, when he played just three matches for the Rajasthan Royals, scoring just 22 runs at a strike-rate of below 100.

Phil Salt was released by the Delhi Capitals but found some fortune with the Kolkata Knight Riders.

His English compatriot, Jason Roy, withdrew from this year's edition due to personal reason and KKR came knocking on Salt's door.

CAN THE DOMINANCE BE BROKEN?

Despite having won two of the first four titles since inception back in 2008, the Chennai Super Kings, along with the inaugural champions, Rajasthan Royals, were banned for two seasons due to spot-fixing and a betting scandal.

However, since their return, CSK, along with the Mumbai Indians, have dominated proceedings.

Chennai and Mumbai have won six of the last seven tournaments, with just the Gujarat Titans splitting the beans in 2022.

The Titans will be hoping to make a third final in a row, after losing last time out against Chennai.

Mumbai's role in the dominance-duet has seemed to have faded since last winning the title back in 2020.

In 2021, Mumbai just missed out on the Eliminator while in 2022, they came stone-last out of the 10 teams.

However, they turned things around in 2023, beating the Lucknow Super Giants by a massive 81 runs in the Eliminator, only to lose by 62 runs to the Gujarat Titans in the second Qualifier.

Chennai have produced a yo-yo effect in the last three seasons, winning in 2021, ending joint-bottom of the log with Mumbai in 2022 and then winning the title again in 2023.

We can only expect one thing from the IPL - and that is action - considering that over 1 000 sixes were smashed last year - and that was without Chris Gayle, who has cracked 357 career-sixes in his 142 matches. A record that will long stand.

Considering that Du Plessis smashed 36 sixes himself last season, Rohit Sharma has a long way to go to try and beat Gayle's record as Sharma is 100 maximums behind the legendary West Indian.

MS Dhoni, the iconic Indian leader, is nearing the end of his IPL career but sits a further 18 sixes behind his Indian countryman.

All-in-all, let the festivities begin!

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