IPL circus rolls back into town with Sunrisers Hyderabad well placed for the title

SAM MORSHEAD looks ahead to the new Indian Premier League season and addresses the ins and outs that have taken place since last year

It is almost that time of year again.

Come March 23, cricket grounds across India will welcome back the spectacle that is the IPL for seven weeks of power-hitting, death bowling and general razzmatazz.

As the calibre and clout of the Big Bash fades, its subcontinental cousin has the opportunity to reclaim its crown as the planet’s premier short-form competition.

Many of the very best players in the world – some household names, some rising stars and some right out of left field – will be on show for the eight franchises, with Chennai Super Kings looking to defend their title.

Who can we expect to see?

Many of the usual suspects will light up the competition once again in 2019, although the tournament’s proximity to the World Cup has caused a number of the sides to rethink their squad policy.

The franchise cricket fraternity are out in force – Shane Watson and Dwayne Bravo at Chennai Super Kings, Carlos Brathwaite and Sunil Narine at Kolkata Knight Riders, Kieron Pollard with Mumbai Indians, Chris Gayle at Kings XI Punjab – but there are one or two notable absentees.

Glenn Maxwell has foregone a bumper payday as he acclimatises to English conditions with Lancashire, with aspirations of making the Australian Ashes party, while Mitchell Starc was cut from the Kolkata roster in brutal fashion, via text message.

^{Sam Curran picked up a bumper paycheck for this year's IPL}

The Aussie exodus continues with Aaron Finch who, following a 2018 in which he broke his own record for the highest ever individual T20 score, declined the chance to enter into December’s auction as he prepares to lead his country at the World Cup.

Both Maxwell and Finch had been released by their previous franchises – Delhi Capitals and Kings XI – in November, with Australia’s mandated cut-off for World Cup squad members to leave the tournament likely to have been a factor in the decisions. The Aussies want their players back by May 2 and, given the Sheffield Shield campaign is not due to end until April 1, their potential playing time in this year’s tournament is severely limited. D’Arcy Short and Pat Cummins also find themselves without a team.

England, meanwhile, want their stars back even earlier (April 25). Captain Eoin Morgan has not got a side, neither has Joe Root. In fact, of the likely starting XI for the English in their World Cup opener against South Africa at The Oval on May 30, only five players – Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, David Willey and Moeen Ali – will be gracing the IPL in 2019. Jofra Archer, a late runner for a starting spot in the national team given his fast-tracked residency, will play with Buttler and Stokes in Rajasthan.

Cut-off dates for World Cup players at IPL

Afghanistan: TBC

Australia: May 2

Bangladesh: April 15

England: April 25

Ireland: April 25

New Zealand: No cut-off

South Africa: May 10

Sri Lanka: May 6

West Indies: No cut-off

Those who know their county cricket will be delighted to see some of the system’s top performers getting a gig in one of the biggest competitions on the planet.

Harry Gurney will go into his stint with Kolkata off the back of a fine spell at Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash, Sam Billings returns to Chennai Super Kings and Liam Livingstone was a shrewd late purchase by Rajasthan Royals.

Any controversies brewing?

After all the spot-fixing scandals, franchise suspensions and other drama of previous years, things seem fairly quiet as the new season approaches at a canter, and nothing illustrates that better than the fact that the biggest issue in the build-up has been a diary clash.

There was some concern that the tournament would not take place in India, at least in part, in 2019 as a result of general elections in the country.

On the two previous occasions the IPL and public voting collided, the cricket was naturally the party to give away – moving to South Africa for the whole of the 2009 campaign and to the UAE for half of its 2014 equivalent – but this time around, it has come up with alternative arrangements.

There had been suggestions that the competition would take on a ‘caravan’ format, moving around the country in blocks of fixtures rather than playing traditional home-and-away sets, in an effort to avoid interrupting the election process.

It is a formula which has been used in the past in other Indian sporting competitions – notably the country’s professional kabaddi and badminton leagues. However, that now appears unlikely.

Can Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers finally claim a title with Royal Challengers Bangalore?

What happened in the auction?

The eight franchises collectively spent an eye-popping £11,374,548 in December’s auction as they tried to assemble title-winning squads.

Varun Chakaravarthy, a 27-year-old mystery spinner who only made his List A debut for Tamil Nadu in September, commanded the highest fee at £895,000.

Chakaravarthy had listed himself at the base price of £22,000 but was eventually purchased for 42 times that amount by Kings XI Punjab.

His performances for Madurai Panthers in the Tamil Nadu Premier League brought him to the attention of Mumbai Indians, for whom he trialled prior to the auction, while he had previously had chances to impress with both Chennai and Kolkata. Once the bidding got going in Jaipur, it was always likely to be frenetic.

An architect by trade, Chakaravarthy has earned himself a reputation as an intelligent and multi-faceted spinner (watch out in particular for his carrom ball). Now, he has perhaps the biggest challenge of his life – to shoulder the burden of the tag ‘the IPL’s most expensive player’.

Not that he seems unduly bothered by the groundswell of publicity surrounding his rise to prominence.

IPL HOMEPAGE: Latest news, stats and much more

“I don’t think anything is going to change in my life,” he said. “It’s just a bigger stage and a learning curve. My personal life will remain the same. I’ll still go at night and edit my short films.”

Another man whose career has been on a near-vertical trajectory over recent months is Sam Curran. The England allrounder, at the age of 20, has bagged himself an £800,000 deal to play alongside Chakaravarthy at Kings XI.

It is an astonishing risk from Punjab. Not only has Curran played only a modest number of T20 matches (47), his career stats do not suggest a master of the art.

An economy rate of 8.24 with the ball, a strike-rate of 118.90 and an average of 15.93 with the bat hardly add up to the best part of a million quid.

But Curran has earned the right to prove himself through a simply sensational second half of 2018, predominantly in the red-ball arena with England and Surrey.

Whether money spent on him is prudently spent is another matter entirely.

English players in IPL 2019

Sam Curran – Kings XI Punjab

Ben Stokes – Rajasthan Royals

Jos Buttler – Rajasthan Royals

Liam Livingstone – Rajasthan Royals

Jofra Archer* – Rajasthan Royals

Sam Billings – Chennai Super Kings

Jonny Bairstow - Sunrisers Hyderabad

Harry Gurney – Kolktata Knight Riders

Joe Denly -– Kolkata Knight Riders

Moeen Ali – Royal Challengers Bangalore

*qualifies to play for England from March 30

Any change behind the scenes?

The rate of turnover in the playing ranks has been equalled among the league’s coaching staff, with several franchises starting afresh in 2019.

Daniel Vettori’s long stay at Royal Challengers Bangalore – which began as a player in 2011 – finally came to an end when he was replaced by former India coach Gary Kirsten.

Vettori had taken the side to the runners-up spot in 2016 but a miserable 2018 saw them fail to even make the play-offs. The Kiwi departed with a win rate as coach of just 43.66 per cent – scant return for the millions being pumped in to the franchise of national captain Virat Kohli.

Kings XI Punjab also made various backroom changes, as Brad Hodge left less than 12 months into his three-year contract, with the highly-coveted former New Zealand top dog Mike Hesson replacing him.

Hesson had quit the Blackcaps in July, citing a desire to spend more time with his family, but had been enjoying the quiet life for less than four months when he committed to a return.

Further change behind the scenes at Kings XI saw India great Virender Sehwag end his five-year association with the franchise.

Senior figures from IPL franchises at the player auction in December

I heard one of the franchises changed its name?

Delhi Daredevils are no more. In December, in a thoroughly self-indulgent ceremony, the club remained itself the Capitals.

Putting aside for a second the slightly confused pluralisation of the noun – they are not the first to do it… Rising Pune Supergiant, anyone? – the franchise’s explanation of their rebrand was comical. 

“Capitals is like… what does Mumbai Indians mean? It’s like that,” heard a stunned assembly of journalists at the launch party.

Social media relentlessly mocked the PR wordsmiths in charge of the makeover, and the already-beleaguered owners were made to look that little bit more daft when it was discovered that the @DelhiCapitals account on Twitter actually belonged to a part-time basketball team.

So then, who’s going to win?

As is often the case in the IPL, the collective standard is so high that predictions are a largely futile exercise. That said, on with the predictions.

Chennai Super Kings go into their title defence stacked with experience – MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja have more than 1,500 T20 career appearances between them – but there are younger pretenders to their throne lurking among the competition.

Sunrisers Hyderabad look a well-balanced outfit, led by power-punching international superstars at the top of the order in the shape of David Warner, Bairstow, Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill and stacked with spin options.

Any T20 side with Rashid Khan in it – career economy 6.09, and averaging a wickets every two and a half overs in the format – is bound to challenge. Add into the mix Khan’s Afghanistan team-mate Mohammed Nabi and the Bangladesh allrounder Shakib al Hasan and Sunrisers have a very potent attack.

Royal Challengers Bangalore, having finally parted company with Vettori after a series of disappointing seasons, are due a title push.

Kohli and AB de Villiers, previously accompanied at the top of the order by Chris Gayle, now have the newest West Indian sensation alongside them in the shape of Shimron Hetmyer, while the Kiwi pair of Colin de Grandhomme and Tim Southee bolster a predominantly homegrown bowling attack. Yuzvendra Chahal, the India international, gives variety to their spin arsenal.

Mumbai Indians – led with the bat by Rohit Sharma and with the ball by Jasprit Bumrah – should not be underestimated – while the English contingent at Rajasthan (Stokes, Buttler, Archer, Livingstone), if on-form, are as good as anything in the league.

Prediction

Play-offs: Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals

Champions: Sunrisers Hyderabad