Players of Kolkata Knight Riders celebrate with the trophy after their victory against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2024 IPL Final match (Photo by Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)
The 18th edition of the prestigious Indian Premier League (IPL) will get underway at the historic Eden Gardens in Kolkata from Saturday when defending champions and the home franchise – Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) clash with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in front of a capacity crowd at one of the iconic stadiums of the world. The 2024 edition has set the precedence. It was a season which saw unprecedented domination of the bat, there were record totals and chases, soaring run-rates, sixes galore, powerplay mayhem – it was absolute carnage with the bowlers decimated like never before in any T20 tournament ever anywhere in the world!
Who are the favourites this season? Does KKR still have the firepower to repeat their heroics of 2024? Will the explosive Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) go one step ahead this time around? Who is the Dark Horse? And can Mumbai Indians (MI) revive their fortunes in the IPL?
RG analyses.
Can KKR repeat their heroics of 2024?
KKR’s campaign last year was based on a two-pronged campaign of aggressive batting and high-quality attacking bowling. They are missing their best personnel in both departments this season. There is no Phil Salt who blasted 435 runs at a strike rate of 182 and while they still boast of Sunil Narine, it would be hard for the West Indian all-rounder to maintain the sort of consistency we saw from him last year. Quinton de Kock is a fine replacement but seems to be past him prime in the format. KKR will also miss the leadership of Shreyas Iyer, who has since then also taken his batting up by a few gears. The elevation of Ajinkya Rahane to captain and the inclusion of Manish Pandey may prove to be counter-productive for KKR.
Mitchell Starc will be their biggest miss with the new ball. He was the Player of the Match in both Qualifer 1 and the Final. However, the fast bowling still looks potent with Anrich Nortje, Harshit Rana and Umran Malik. KKR’s biggest trump card will be Varun Chakravarthy who is in red-hot form with the ball.
For KKR to succeed, Narine and Andre Russell will need to fire with the bat otherwise they may not make the last four.
SRH start favourites
SRH have all bases covered and start as favourites to go all the way this season. In Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, they have the most explosive opening pair in the competition – the duo smashed 599 runs at a strike rate of 220 including three century partnerships in the last edition. The middle-order is also quite destructive with Ishan Kishan, Nitish Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen completing the top 5.
The fast bowling trio of Mohammed Shami – who was the leading wicket-taker in the IPL between 2019 and 2023, Pat Cummins and Harshal Patel (last season’s Purple Cap holder) will be joined by the ranks of Adam Zampa and Rahul Chahar and that makes for a formidable bowling unit.
The only apparent weakness is the lower-order but SRH would hope that the top 5 do the job and if not they have the bowling to compensate.
Will MI Make a Comeback?
MI have struggled and gone through a transformation after their successive triumphs in 2019 and 2020. They have made it to the playoffs just once in the last four seasons while finishing last in 2022 and 2024. However, having gone through this reformative period, MI have built a strong nucleus of its core players with some new exciting faces and may pose a threat this season.
The batting looks as threating as ever with Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Tilak Varma, Suryakunar Yadav, Will Jacks and Hardik Pandya in a potential top 6. The famous duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult will reunite and create some magic with the new ball while Mitchell Santner is at his peak as a T20 bowler and will control the middle overs. The big question for MI then is the fitness of Boom Boom Bumrah – he was the bowler of the tournament last season with 20 dismissals at a strike rate of 15.5 and economy of 6.48! Bumrah is likely to miss the first three matches for MI and others need to step up till his return.
Is it DC’s Year, Finally?
The Delhi Capitals have not made it to the playoffs in the last three seasons but have put together the right combination of impact players in this edition and may just be the Dark Horse for the tournament.
Axar Patel will lead the franchise this season and that may turn out to be a masterstroke in more ways than one. The decision also means that it will free KL Rahul of the leadership role and he may finally play aggressor at the top of the order and go all guns blazing with Jake Fraser-McGurk – the latter blasted 330 runs at a scoring rate of 234 last season! Harry Brook’s controversial withdrawal may dent a blow to the middle-order but it still has enough firepower to cause headache to opposition units. Tristan Stubbs will be key at number 5.
The bowling looks lethal with Starc, T Natarajan and Mukesh Kumar leading the pace attack and Kuldeep Yadav and Axar in-charge of the spin unit.
Rajasthan Royals have a strong potential first XI and will fancy their chances of again making the playoffs. Riyan Parag and Sanju Samson both aggregated above 500 runs at strike rates of around 150 last season while Yashasvi Jaiswal has been the leading scorer for Royals in the last two seasons with an aggregate of 1060 runs at a strike rate of 160! Jofra Archer will lead the pace attack while the Sri Lankan pair of Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga form a potent spin duo in the middle overs.
Chennai Super Kings have retained a number of veteran players who may be in the twilight of their careers – Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tripathi and Deepak Hooda to name a few. While this strategy of being the ‘Daddy Army’ has worked for them in the past, it might just prove to be counter-productive in this edition. Rachin Ravindra and Shivam Dube will be key for them in the top-order.
Punjab Kings have completely overhauled their contingent and in Shreyas Iyer have a confident leader who is also at the top of his game as a batter. However, the batting lacks a bit of pedigree. PBKS also do not have a world-class right-arm pacer. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have brought in Phil Salt to partner Virat Kohli at the top of the order but again look top-heavy and the lower-order is a concern. They also lack a top-class spinner which may haunt them this season. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have invested too much in their skipper, Rishabh Pant while not building their fast-bowling reserves – they lack a quality overseas pacer. The Titans (GT) will rely heavily on their opening pairing of Jos Buttler – who has been in woeful form in 2025 – and Yashasvi Jaiswal – to provide a rollicking start. However, the middle-order is a cause of worry and if Glenn Phillips does not fire, GT are in for trouble. They will also miss Shami big time with the new ball.
Based on the depth of their batting and bowling reserves, form and conditions, SRH, MI, DC and RR should make the playoffs. It could be a tight race for the fifth spot between RCB and the Titans. If the conditions remain flat, it will be hard to stop the Sunrisers from going all the way this time around!
Nikhil Narain is a die-hard cricket romantic, published author, and has worked for some of the leading digital websites and broadcasters in India and overseas. An alumnus of the London School of Economics, Nikhil's forte is using data and numbers creatively to weave interesting stories and revolutionize the way cricket statistics are generated and analyzed.
