The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season is all set to kick off on March 26. The league stages of the tournament will take place at four venues (Wankhede Stadium, Brabourne Stadium, DY Patil Stadium, and MCA Stadium) in Maharashtra.
As two news teams will make their debut in the IPL this year, a mega-auction took place earlier this year. All the franchises tried their best to form a formidable squad, with youngsters at the forefront. As all the ten teams have a squad, it will be challenging to strike the perfect balance in order to win the championship.
In this article, we will take a look at four teams that may reach the playoffs of IPL 2022.
#4. Lucknow Super Giants
Lucknow Super Giants had a great debut at the auction tables ahead of the Indian Premier League 2022 season. Their batting line-up boasts of skipper KL Rahul, Quinton De Kock, Manish Pandey, with good all-rounder options such as Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Marcus Stoinis, and Jason Holder.
The Lucknow Super Kings do lack an experienced spinner in their ranks. However, the likes of Avesh Khan, Mark Wood, and Ravi Bishnoi along with the all-rounders make a good bowling line-up. The franchise will be keen to begin their Indian Premier League journey on a high, by winning a title on debut.
#3. Delhi Capitals
Delhi Capitals had a great Indian Premier League 2022 auction. They have a powerful top four consisting of Warner, Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, and Rishabh Pant. The team also has Sarfaraz Khan and Mandeep Singh in their ranks, who could prove to be great assets for them in the middle order.
Delhi Capitals do lack another quality overseas bowler apart from Anrich Nortje. However, they have good Indian bowling options, such as the likes of Shardul Thakur, Chetan Sakariya, Khaleel Ahmed. Axar Patel will have the company of Kuldeep Yadav in the spin department.
Overall, Delhi seems to have most of the bases covered, and will be hoping to lift the trophy this year.
#2. Punjab Kings
Punjab Kings, who fell short of making it to the playoffs in the last edition, will be happy with these picks this time around. The team will witness a captaincy shift, as Mayank Agarwal will over the responsibilities from this season. They let go of KL Rahul and retained Mayank and Arshdeep before the auctions.
The franchise has a great batting depth with an abundance of power hitters. The presence of Mayank, Dhawan, Shahrukh Khan, Liam Livingstone, and Johnny Bairstow makes their batting attack one of the most powerful in the tournament.
They also have the lethal Kagiso Rabada to lead their bowling unit. Punjab Kings lack a quality spinner alongside Rahul Chahar. However, if the un-capped players, Harpreet Brar and Raj Bawa step up for them, Punjab could be one of the teams to beat this season.
#1. Rajasthan Royals
Just like Punjab Kings, the Rajasthan Royals too have a great top-order. The likes of Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson, and Shimron Hetmyer, make a solid top-five for the Royals. They also have a good backup option in Rassie van der Dussen.
Rajasthan did a good job at the auction regarding their bowling attack. They signed Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Trent Boult. However, they lack a good fifth bowling option.
Overall, Rajasthan Royals have a good squad, this year. They finished in the bottom two last season and will be keen to make it to the top four in the Indian Premier League 2022.
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