IPL 2025 ANALYSIS OF EACH TEAM

 Done with the IPL Auction, now it's time for team Analysis of every single team. Please let me know if you guys want a dedicated blog on your favorite team. Now we should directly start with the blog without much delay. 

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: 

Cummins, Abhishek, Nitish, Heinrich, Head, Shami, Harshal, Ishan, Rahul Chahar, Zampa, Taide,Manohar, Simarjeet, Zeeshan Ansari, Unadkat, Brydon Carse, Kamindu Mendis, Aniket Verma, Eshan Malinga, Sachin Baby.

Probable Playing 11:

1) Travis Head*

2) Abhishek

3) Ishan 

4) Heinrich (Wk)*

5) Nitish Reddy

6) Kamindu Mendis*

7) Abhinav Manohar

8) Pat Cummins (C)*

9) Shami

10) Harshal Patel

11) Rahul Chahar

Impact Player: Unadkat, Sachin Baby.

Note: * are overseas players

Strength: Strong top order players, experienced pacers, strong captain, Indian fast bowling allrounder in the team.

Weakness: Spinners; SRH don't have some great spinners, yes they got Rahul chahar and Zampa but still they don't have some great turner of the ball. On pitches like Hyderabad, they would exposed their weakness. Second is lower order/finishers; SRH have Kamindu Mendis who is in great form & Abhinav Manohar, who is like to like replacement of Samad. Somewhere, they needed atleast 1 experienced lower order batter. 

PUNJAB KINGS: 

Shreyas, Prabhsimran, Maxwell, Arshdeep, Chahal, Wadhera, Stoinis, Jansen, Ferguson, Harnoor, Musheer, Pyla, Inglis, Vishnu Vinod, Shashank, Shedge, Brar, Hardie, Omarzai, Arya, Praveen Dubey, Vyshak, Yash Thakur, Sen and Bartlett.

Probable Playing 11:

1) Prabhsimran 

2) Josh Inglis (WK)*

3) Shreyas (C)

4) Maxwell*

5) Stoinis*

6) Shashank Singh

7) Jansen*

8) Brar

9) Yash Thakur

10) Arshdeep

11) Chahal

Impact Player: Wadhera, Vyshak.

Strength: Experienced Players, great middle order, strong captain, batting depth, spin bowling.

Weakness: Pacers are I feel weakness of PBKS, yes they do have the best T20i pacer for India Arshdeep, but apart from him others are little less experienced. They also have Jansen in their side, so other teams may consider this as strength but PBKS so strong that this is their only weakness. But I guess they will finish at 5 or 6 position like every year.

Lucknow Super Giants: 

Pooran, Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin, Badoni, Pant, Miller, Markram, Marsh, Avesh, Samad, Aryan Juyal, Akash Deep, Himmat, Siddharth, Digvesh Singh, Shahbaz, Akash Singh, Shamar, Prince Yadav, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Hangargekar, Arshin, Matthew Breetzke

Probable Playing 11:

1) Arshin

2) Marsh*

3) Markram*

4) Pooran (C)*

5) Pant (WK)

6) Badoni

7) Miller*

8) Mohsin 

9) Bishnoi

10) Mayank Yadav

11) Akash Deep

Impact Player: Samad, Avesh.

Strength: Overseas strength, Batting Line up, Fierce Pacers, Spin is also good enough.

Weakness: No as such weakness just too much dependent on overseas players. The team looks just perfect with filling every aspects in the auction. They are looking strong on paper.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS:

Rinku Singh, Narine, Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit, Rahane, Ramandeep, Venkatesh, De Kock, Gurbaz, Nortje, Powell, Manish Pandey, Spencer Johnson, Sisodia, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Umran Malik.

Probable Playing 11:

1) Narine*

2) De Kock (WK)*

3) Venkatesh

4) Manish Pandey

5) Rinku (C)

6) Ramandeep

7) Russell*

8) Harshit Rana

9) Varun Chakravarthy

10) Nortje*

11) Umran Malik

Impact Player: Rahane, Anukul Roy.

Strength: Fire batting line up, Spin department.

Weakness: The defending champions had let go their captain & now they don't have a captain in their side, anyone of De Kock or Rinku will be captaining the side. Pacers are the another weakness of KKR. 

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS:

Ruturaj, Pathirana, Dube, Jadeja, Dhoni, Conway, Tripathi, Rachin, Ashwin, Khaleel, Noor, Vijay Shankar, Curran, Shaik Rasheed, Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary, Hooda, Gurjapneet Singh, Ellis, Overton, Nagarkoti, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddarth.

Probable Playing 11:

1) Ruturaj (C)

2) Conway*

3) Rachin*

4) Dube

5) Vijay Shankar

6) Jadeja

7) Curran*

8) Dhoni (WK)

9) Ashwin

10) Pathirana*

11) Mukesh Choudhary

Impact Player: Tripathi, Kamboj.

Strength: Deep batting line up, Bunch of allrounders, Spin twin are back.

Weakness: Inexperienced in the pace bowling, No hate but Dhoni batting at no.8 might be a headache for the management.

DELHI CAPITALS:

KL Rahul, Brook, Stubbs, Fraser-McGurk, Faf, Kuldeep, Chameera, Mohit, Nattu, Mukesh, Nair, Porel, Ferreira, Axar, Rizvi, Ashutosh, Nalkande, Vipraj Nigam, Manvanth, Tripurana Vijay and Madhav Tiwari.

Probable Playing 11:

1) Kl Rahul (C) (WK)

2) Fraser-McGurk*

3) Brook*

4) Stubbs*

5) Porel

6) Ashutosh

7) Axar

8) Mukesh

9) Nattu

10) Kuldeep

11) Chameera*

Impact Player: Sameer Rizvi, Mohit Sharma.

MUMBAI INDIANS:

Rohit, Hardik, Bumrah, Boult, Tilak, Surya, Deepak Chahar, Dhir, Santner, Raj Bawa, Puthur, Rickleton, Minz, Shrijith, Jacobs, Tendulkar, Ashwani, Ghazanfar, Topley, Lizaad, Karn and Satyanarayan Raju.

Probable Playing 11:

1) Rohit Sharma

2) Will Jacks*

3) Tilak

4) Surya

5) Robin Minz (WK)

6) Hardik (C)

7) Santner*

8) Deepak Chahar

9) Trent Boult*

10) Bumrah 

11) Ghazanfar

Impact Player: Naman Dhir, Karn Sharma.

Strength: Indian Batting core, Pacers, Spinners, Indian fast bowling all rounder.

Weakness: Young Wk batter, even though Rickleton plays it will not guarantee batting masterclass. Other than this no other weakness is being observed.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU:

Kohli, Salt, Patidar, Hazlewood, Padikkal, Buvi, Livingstone, Bethell, Jitesh, Krunal, Tim David, Chikara, Swapnil, Shepherd, Ngidi, Bhandage, Dayal, Rasikh, Suyash, Thusara, Mohit Rathee and Abhinandan.

Probable Playing 11:

1) Virat Kohli (C)

2) Salt (WK)*

3) Rajat

4) Livingstone*

5) Jitesh

6) Tim David*

7) Krunal 

8) Swapnil Singh

9) Bhuvi

10) Dayal

11) Hazlewood*

Impact Player: Rasikh Dar, Padikkal

Strength: Strong Batting line up, Spin department.

Weakness: Pace department is experienced but inconsistent, they may even concede 40-50 in their 4 overs or they may even restrict the opponent for 4 for 20. Team is looking average on paper.

GUJRAT TITANS:

Rashid, Gill, Sudharsan, Tewatia, Shahrukh, Rabada, Buttler, Siraj, Prasidh, Nishant Sindhu, Lomror, Kushagra, Anuj Rawat, Suthar, Sundar, Coetzee, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar, Rutherford, Sai Kishore, Ishant, Jayant Yadav, Phillips, Karim Janat, Khejroliya.

Probable Playing 11:

1) Gill (C)

2) Buttler (WK)*

3) Sudharshan 

4) Phillips*

5) Tewatia

6) Shahrukh Khan

7) Sundar 

8) Rashid*

9) Prasidh Krishna

10) Rabada* 

11) Siraj

Impact Player: Sai Kishore, Anuj Rawat.

Strength: Top order batters, Spin department, Pacers.

Weakness: Lower Middle order is concerning, Pacers are strength but might be worse bowling attack in some conditions.

RAJASTHAN ROYALS:

Samson, Jaiswal, Parag, Jurel, Hetmyer, Sandeep, Jofra, Theekshana, Hasaranga, Madhwal, Kartikeya, Nitish Rana, Deshpande, Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Singh, Farooqi, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Maphaka, Kunal Rathore, Ashok Sharma

Probable Playing 11:

1) Jaiswal

2) Samson (C)

3) Parag

4) Nitish Rana

5) Jurel

6) Shubham Dubey

7) Hasranga*

8) Jofra*

9) Theekshana*

10) Sandeep

11) Farooqi*

Impact Player: Deshpande, Yudhvir Singh.

Strength: Top order batters, Spin department, Fierce Pace.

Weakness: Inexperienced lower middle order batting. RR not looking so good on paper.

This was a short comprehensive analysis from my side, if you want me to make a detailed team analysis of each team then let me know in the comment section or dm me on Instagram (cricketanalyst_ak). 

THANK YOU,

ADVAIT KADAM

(Sports Management Student)

Ig: cricketanalyst_ak

PACE, PACE AND PACE!

 The title summarized the first day of the first test match. A flurry wicket on day 1, 17 wickets on day 1 which is the most in Australia since 1952. So whose day it was? India? australia? Tough to answer but definitely it was pacer dominated day. The match is evenly poised at this point but India do have a slight advantage with Australia still trailing by 83 runs. So let's go session by session and understand the scenario of the match, but before that make sure to follow me on Instagram for all the updates. (Instagram)

TOSS & PLAYING:

Bumrah won the toss and choose to bat, Team India took a brave decision to bat first & also by benching both Jaddu and Ash. The team was same as we predicted before, I had not included Paddikal & that's the only difference. The pitch was not looking like Perth used to before, it was likely because of the extra grass and also because of the moisture due to unseasonal raining couple of days ago. But as the match is proceeding the pace & bounce will keep on increasing. 

1ST SESSION: 

The morning session was dominated by the fierce Aussie pacers, they managed to clinched 4 wickets and not letting India score more than 51. Jaiswal and Paddikal scored duck. Bad shot to play early on in the innings, Jaiswal looked lazy playing that shot. In the first session India lost Jaiswal, Paddikal, Kohli and Rahul. Rahul was looking exceptionally well, he gave everyone a kind of nostalgia of the Lord's innings by playing so close to the body and with patience. Eventually, a bad decision of umpires took all his perseverance and determination with him. 

Currently I am not having the video of his wicket but will upload it on my Instagram later. Fox cricket are expected for better camera angles, maybe it's done intentionally who knows. If Rahul would have played a bit more, the scenario would been the different. Never mind, he batted way better than expected. I personally wasn't unhappy with the batters, this is what I had expected India to play. 

2ND SESSION:

After lunch, Australia started with Marsh, I was shocked and a bit happy until he took away 2 Indian Batters in no time. He took the wickets of Jurel and Washi. India lost 6 wickets in the 2nd session but managed to score 99 runs in that session with the help of Nitish & Pant. Both played brilliant innings which eventually helped India gain some confidence. Not completely unhappy with the batters as there are some positives in terms of Jurel & Nitish especially. Getting all out in 2 sessions is not what we expect when we tour a country like Australia, oh damn! Sorry I completely forgot the 36 all out. Ok let's focus on the current scenario.

3RD SESSION:

India or rather Bumrah started off well and got 3 wickets early on, which included Mcsweeny, Khwaja & Golden duck of Smith. Surely Captain leading from the front. Bumrah found the perfect partners to appreciate him, Siraj got 2 whereas debutant Harshit got 1. What a ball it was by Rana to dismiss Head. End of the day India got 7 wickets and didn't gave too much runs. Aussies are currently 67/7 and still 83 runs behind, India is looking strong with their balling but it's test match cricket you don't know the final results yet. 

To conclude, The first day of the first match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy is delicately poised. India will look to get Carey, whose middle order heroics have often swung games in Australia's way recently. One thing I like about Indian team was their body language; They didn't loosen up when wickets fell early they kept on attacking with the ball & of course with the mouth too. Excited enough for the day 2 hoping India will finish the innings within half an hour. Until then, enjoy! 

THANK YOU,

ADVAIT KADAM

(Sports Management Student)

Ig: cricketanalyst_ak

BGT NOT SO FAR AWAY, WHAT CAN BE THE TEAM COMBINATION AND STRENGTH OR WEAKNESS OF BOTH THE TEAM

 Only 9 days left for the start of the most epic rivalry between India vs Australia, all the cricketing experts have already started giving their opinion and predictions. In this blog we will try to cover every possible aspect related to the BGT, from Series prediction to player analysis and also the team combination. Before we start make sure to follow me on Instagram for all the cricket related content (cricketanalyst_ak).

The very first question is what can be the team combination of both the teams? I had already given my predicted 11 for India in the previous blog (Read here), are we ready to play Nitish Kumar Reddy? He is an allrounder and can definitely help in both batting and bowling, but Dhruv Jurel is in some terrific form, can India try to fit him in as a pure batter? The only way Jurel can play is by letting Nitish warm the bench. So the next big question arise is what will be the ideal bowling combination? anyone of Jaddu or Washi will have to sit out to make Jurel play. 

If Nitish sits out who will be our 4th pacer? Especially in Perth you need someone has that pace and bounce. Looking at the current form I would have loved to see Mukesh getting the place but he is not in the main squad, he is been to Australia as reserved player. So the only 2 options left are Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana. Prasidh will get some help of the deck but we all know the fact that he has been to South Africa and he wasn't good enough their, he took only 2 wickets in the 2 matches they played their with an average of  65. Can't predict about Harshit Rana but I don't know why is he even selected in the main team before Mukesh Kumar. Harshit is a good bowler but selecting him so early is not a good sign. It's better to select the 4th pacer based on who bats better, I know that's sounds a bit silly but what other options do you have to judge the player. 

and the final concern for India is about availability of Captain Rohit Sharma. I think it is clear with the team now that he might be unavailable for the first test, he haven't travel with the team that left for Australia on 11th. Gambhir made it clear in his press conference that Bumrah will captain team India in his absence, and the openers will be either Rahul or Easwaran. I would prefer Easwaran to open looking at the current form.

Considering all the factors mentioned above the probable playing can be:

1) Jaiswal

2) Easwaran

3) Gill

4) Kohli

5) Pant (WK)

6) Jurel

7) Jaddu

8) Akash deep

9) Bumrah (C)

10) Siraj

11) Harshit Rana

Do we have the guts to play only 7 batters after what happened against New Zealand? Maybe, I understand our batting is the main concern in the recent times but we have to take some tough decision to get the result we want from the series. For making our batting stronger I was rooting for Nitish to play but that would have compromised our bowling for sure. Jaddu have to make some allround performance to make sure Washi doesn't take his place. 

So by looking at the squad it is clear that our strong point is our bowling and weakness is our batting. But take a minute and have a look at Australian squad, I think they are having the same problem recently. They have rooted for a new opener McSweeney. Smith was opening the batting after Warner's retirement but now he will be again at his original position i.e no. 4. He might struggle initially due to changes in his batting position. Let us 1st look at Predicted or almost confirm Australian 11.

1) Usman Khwaja

2) McSweeney

3) Labushagne

4) Smith

5) Marsh

6) Travis Head

7) Alex Carey (WK)

8) Pat Cummins (C)

9) Starc

10) Hazlewood

11) Lyon

For the first test only 3 Australian batters can be nightmare for us and they are Khwaja, Head and Labushagne. Yeah I know all the other batters are good and can score big against India but this is what I feel, they might be flop in the first test. We have to make man to man planning for every Australian batter and Jasprit Bumrah will play some key role to dismiss some of their batters. Also Akashdeep and Siraj are players to look out for India. No need to get scared of the Australian just make sure to follow the basics and every player must play their role well. Expecting a great first test at Perth. The whole series will depend on the first test match performance, Perth is a difficult ground and if India manages to win or at least draw the first test India will have the upper hand on the series. I am not looking at the border prospect like WTC Final, I just want India to continue the streak of winning the test series in Australia. So first test ending in Draw is not a bad option for India. 

Virat Kohli has some great record in Australian conditions, especially in Perth. He has an average of 70 in the Perth. Expecting him to go big in the first test. Let's see some player records in the Border Gavaskar Trophy History regardless of the venue.

Note: Only players in current squad and good BGT records are included.

Looking at the records above, it makes clear about which player performs the best on the biggest stage. My predictions for individual performance i.e best batter and bowler from the series are; Rishabh or Jaiswal from India and Khwaja or Labushagne for Aussies. In terms of bowling it's Bumrah for India no doubt in that, for Australia it will be Hazlewood. 

Just in: I just saw an article that India is going to play 3 day intra squad test match and viewers will not be allowed to see the match. (Read full article here)

Which player are you guys rooting for in this series? Let me know in the comment section below and let me know if I missed any aspect of the series.

THANK YOU,

ADVAIT KADAM

(Sports Management Student)

MYSTERY SPINNER SURPRISES SOUTH AFRICA BUT GOES IN VAIN

 A low scoring thriller, not a thriller perhaps but yeah, it was a great game of Cricket for all the fans around the globe. South Africa levels the series (1-1) with an amazing victory. Stubbs and Coetzee helped their team from getting humiliated in a low scoring run chase. It was a low scoring pitch as predicted in our last blog, but surprisingly it supported the spinners more than the pacers. There was little or no spin from the pitch but the slower balls were looking effective. Krugger and his slower balls would have got some help from the pitch but he wasn't playing the match.

TOSS & CHANGES IN THE 11: Markram won the toss again and choose to bowl again, correct decision by him.The pitch was on a slower side and it was looking overcast which also provided some help for the pacers early on. There was no change in the team from the Indian side but the host got 1 change i.e Hendricks comes in for Krugger. 

India didn't start well and lost the wicket of Sanju in the 1st over. India were 15 for 3 at the end of the 4th over. Axar and Hardik manages to get India towards the respectable team total. What India did wrong was the trying to attack from the 1st ball itself, the pitch was not even 180 and we were trying to get 200+ on this surface. Historically, the highest score on this pitch was 179, so India should have started their innings cautiously which would have resulted in 10-20 runs extra. At least after the wicket of Surya, Tilak and Axar were expected to play sensibly and spending some time on the crease. Playing 1 dimension cricket always haunt you in tough conditions. 140-150 is what I was expecting on this pitch. 

In the second innings South Africa started of well but it was Varun Chakravarthy's Mystery bowling who made the difference. What a phenomenal spell it was from the Indian spinner. He got 5 for 17 in his 4 over quota, with an economy rate of just 4.25. No answers for his googlies from the South Africa's batters, Varun got 4 of his wickets from googlies. He got Klassen out a couple of time in this series. Everything was looking good for India until the 17th over. The trick India missed here was axar bowled only 1 over, the story would have been different if he would have bowled atleast 2 or 3 overs. Is Axar playing only because of his batting ability? He can and he has bowled some great spell in the future, I don't know why isn't he getting much overs to ball. He would have certainly made the difference in the match. Expecting more overs from him in the upcoming matches.

In the end, we lost the match by 3 wickets and a over to spare. Great performance from them, especially from Tristan Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee. It was their match to lose but both of them pulled it of in style. Series is levelled up with 1-1 with 2 matches to spare, this makes this series even more interesting to watch. The 3rd T20i is on 13th November in Centurion.

What does the pitch say of the 3rd T20i? 

The surface of the SuperSports Park for the T20i encounter is expected to generate pace and bounce. Spinners can get help from the pitch in the 2nd innings. However, it is belter of a batting track and batting first team must target at least 180. I would prefer India to chase the target, however batting first would not be an bad option either. 259 target was chased by South Africa against West Indies in this pitch, so expecting similar kind of match on 13th. The only change I want in Indian team is Avesh to be replaced by either Ramandeep or Yash Dayal. Avesh Khan has the worst Economy among the Indian bowlers in the death overs.

If you guys are loving my content do follow me on Instagram: cricketanalyst_ak.

THANK YOU,

ADVAIT KADAM

(Sports Management Student)

VARUN, RAVI AND SANJU HELPS INDIA DOMINATE SOUTH AFRICA

 India Humiliated South Africa in an one sided T20i match in Durban, India won by 61 runs in the first T20i and takes 1-0 lead in the 4 match T20i Series. A complete dominating performance from the Indian team with both bat and ball. Indian spinners were looking like they were on a mission to destroy South Africa's batting line-up, in batting Sanju had some great time in the middle. Let's start from the beginning.

PITCH REPORT & TOSS: Durban’s Kingsmead Cricket Ground typically favours fast bowlers, with an average first-innings score of just 136 across 18 T20Is. Out of those 18, 1 match yielded no results, and another (between India and Pakistan) ended in a tie. It was a hard pitch and allowed extra bounce for the pacers. The soon as I saw the pitch, I hoped India to bat first. Yeah, it was slightly overcast at the start of the game but still Sa would have batted first after winning the toss. Surya was more than happy for batting first. "For the rest of the 16 matches, 8 matches were won by teams batting first and 8 by teams batting second. Captains winning the toss often choose to bat first due to the stadium’s playing conditions." This was published in the mint before the start of the match. (Read the full article here)

Overall it was bad captaincy from Markram, you chose to ball first because of the overseas condition but the 2nd and 3rd over was bowled by spinners. Marco bowled a great first over by giving just 2 runs against the Indian Openers. You should have given the ball to Coetzee or Simelane early on. 

SANJU'S MASTERCLASS: Sanju has shown some potential lately as an opener. He becomes the first Indian to score 2 consecutive T20i 100. I expected him to perform well in South African pitches as he trusts the bounce while playing his shots and never misses out on playing the on the up shots early on in his innings. He hit in total 10 sixes in his innings of 107 runs of 50 balls, the funny part is whole South African team managed to hit only 9 sixes. Sanju's is like tutorial on how to play your shots on South African pitches. 

It is crucial for Abhishek now to score some runs, to make his place in the team. He plays every shot like he is batting on Indian pitches. I have made a short comparison video of Sanju and Abhishek have a look.

With the help of short cameos of Surya and Tilak, India manages to score 202 of their 20 overs with loss of 8 wickets. 

SOUTH AFRICA BATTING: South Africa struggled to score runs from the 1st over itself. Wickets kept falling at regular intervals. But Indian spinners are the one who made the difference, Indian Spinners took 6 wickets in total with an economy rate of just 6.78. Whereas, if you look at South Africa's spinners, they managed to clinch only 2 wickets and the economy rate was 9.88. Varun and Bishnoi were amazing yesterday, they took 3 wickets each. Varun took the main wickets of Klassen and Miller. He was looking in his old touch and bowled some great deliveries. 

India managed to all out SA for just 141 runs, and secured stunning victory against SA to start the series. Indian bowlers didn't give any chance for the batters to attack, especially in the middle overs. Keeping Miller and Klassen silent for so long is not easy, Overall it was a complete team performance by the Indian team. Durban is anyways considered as lucky for us, we haven't lost a single match in this venue. 

We have started the series on a good note and hope we will continue this form in the later half of the series, no need of doing anything extra just focus on individual performance. I guess we need only one change that is replace Avesh with Dayal or Ramandeep (batting depth). The next match is scheduled tomorrow in the St George's Oval stadium, hoping for the same results. 

The pitch of St George's Oval has historically Supported pacers, who would get a good bounce from the surface. The batters can get going once they hold off the new-ball pressure. Spinners get little to no help from the surface. They would have to be on the money with their line and length to have any success. This is the pitch report for the tomorrow's match, I would prefer chasing on this pitch. The last time we played on this venue we lost by 5 wickets via DLS method. The highest score on this pitch is 179 by India. Expecting a similar low scoring pitch again. Hardik along with Surya and Arshdeep will shine in the 2nd T20i is what I am predicting. 

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THANK YOU, 

ADVAIT KADAM 

(Sports Management Student)