The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 is about to begin and the enthusiasm and excitement surrounding the tournament is increasing day by day.
The IPL is the most popular cricket tournament in India, and therefore, there is a lot of speculation as to which team will emerge victorious from the tournament.
Last year Chennai Super Kings walked away with the IPL 2021 trophy. However, the IPL 2022 player auction has witnessed a good mixup of players across franchises and a new generational breed of players bagged the highest prices during this year’s auction.
In addition to that, we will also see the inclusion of 2 brand new franchises this year: Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants.
In this article, we will take a look at the chances of each different IPL team to make it to the final and claim the highly esteemed IPL 2022 trophy according to the odds provided on the various online betting sites.
1. Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings have lifted the IPL trophy on four previous occasions and have finished second once.
According to cricket analysts, Chennai Super Kings were extremely dominant in their approach in IPL 2021. The team adopted a bat deep approach in which each batsman was given full freedom to express their batting prowess.
It is likely that the team will take a similar approach this year which could definitely steer them towards victory.
However, the team did not manage to retain Deepak Chahar this year which could mean that their bowling may weaken further. Dhoni being a smart captain may have devised a strategy to address this weakness and keep CSK in the game as a strong contender for the IPL 2022 trophy.
2. Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians have picked up the IPL trophy five times. In an attempt to repeat the success of earlier years, Mumbai Indians bought the most expensive player, Ishan Kishan during the IPL 2022 auction.
Strengthening their resolve is the fact that the Mumbai Indians have a great winning rate of 58% as they have won 125 matches out of 217 IPL matches in total. Under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, the team is looking likely to pick up its sixth IPL trophy.
3. Kolkata Knight Riders
During the IPL 2022 auction, Kolkata Knight Riders fully loaded their team with 25 players.
KKR managed to retain their captain Shreyas Iyer and also picked some new talent like Nitish Rana and Shivam Mavi (for a substantial investment of money).
It appears that KKR is taking an aggressive approach this time which is definitely what is needed if the team wants to secure an IPL trophy this season, in contrast to previous seasons where Kolkata may have played it too defensively.
4. Delhi Capitals
Delhi Capitals were lucky enough to secure some really good players at highly competitive prices during the IPL 2022 auction.
Once again this year, Delhi Capitals are banking Rishab Pant to be the team’s captain due to his stellar performance in previous seasons.
Even though DC has never won an IPL trophy, their optimism is ever-faultless. However, this year they are looking exceedingly understaffed in experienced players, as they have chosen to focus almost exclusively on younger players – a risky but novel strategy.
5. Gujarat Titans
Gujarat Titans are looking towards their first ever IPL performance coming up this season.
Hardik Pandya is expected to hold the fort as captain of the Titans. In addition, the franchise also got their hands on a couple of top talents like Rashid Khan and Shubhnam Gill.
While it may be difficult to comment on their chances of winning the tournament because this is their first season, the team they have put together for the season ahead looks promising enough for a Top 5 place.
6. Lucknow Super Giants
Lucknow Super Giants is another brand new franchise appearing for the first time now at the IPL 2022.
The main focus of the franchise seemed to be picking up all-rounders during the IPL auction. Avesh Khan and Quiton de Kock are some of their best buys.
With so many seasoned all-rounders on the team, it seems like Lucknow aren’t playing to win the tournament, but rather to put up a respectable performance, which is probably a good way to start off.
7. Punjab Kings
Punjab Kings has been quite impressive this year due to their choice of players. They have a fully loaded squad of 25 players. And despite the big number of players, they haven’t cheaped out on quality players either.
Their most expensive buy this season is Liam Livingstone for 11.5 crore rupees. In addition, they made some really high-quality buys in the form of Shikhar Dhawan, Odean Smith, Jonny Bairstow, Kagiso Rabada, and Rahul Chahar.
Punjab Kings has the most promising team this season that they have had in a while, we would not be surprised to see them end up in an IPL final.
8. Rajasthan Royals
After playing a disappointing season last year, Rajasthan Royals has put together a smaller team of just 11 players this season. Their team is looking quite average overall, and is unlikely to be competing within the top 6 spots of the tournament this year.
A place in the finals looks like a distant dream for the Rajasthan Royals but they will definitely put up a good performance during matches as they always do.
9. Royal Challengers Bangalore
RCB has had a hard time sourcing a replacement for their captain since 2008, Virat Kohli.
Their salvation may have arrived just in time in the form of Faf du Plessis, a fine batting captain that resembles Virat Kohli in many ways.
The team this season consists of some 21 more players, which includes some of the best players of the past few years like Harshal Patel, Wanindu, Josh Hazlewood, Dinesh Karthik, and David Willey.
RCB is definitely looking likely to be competing for a top 3 position this season.
10. Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sunrisers Hyderabad: the team that seems to amaze us every single season by always putting up a very average performance.
Looking at their performance in past seasons and the team they have put together for the IPL 2022, it’s unlikely that we will see the Sunrisers pull a rabbit out of their hat and put on a finale-worthy performance.
The team does not have a squad to envy this time and it is expected that their performance will remain average this time around as well.