IPL 2018: 4 teams which could make the playoffs

The Indian Premier League is slowly heating up and teams are tweaking around with their options to figure out their best combination.

While few usual suspects have hit the ground running, there are others who have not yet turned up, which is impeding the progress of their respective teams.

It might be early days, but if indications are anything to by, we can stick our necks out and name four teams which look all set to qualify for the playoffs this season.

Here in this slider, we identify those four teams and the reasons which will make them march ahead into the knockouts!

#4 Kolkata Knight Riders

With a new captain at the helm, the Kolkata Knight Riders revamped the core of their team, and while this generally creates confusion in the ranks, KKR have looked a settled unit.

They have few problems in the fast bowling contingent, but their batting and spinning department look sorted and settled to lead them into the knockout stages.

In Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, and Piyush Chawla, they have three quality spinners up their sleeves and on any day either on of the aforementioned spinners can win the match for the team.

Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, and captain Dinesh Karthik combine to render a solid look to the batting coterie which bodes well for the franchise.

While Karthik faltered a touch in the initial few matches, he now looks to be in control of the scheme of things and this is only perfect for the two-time IPL champions.

#4 Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals look solid

Much like the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Rajasthan Royals shuffled their core around and in the absence of captain Steve Smith, they were forced to appoint Ajinkya Rahane as the leader.

After a slightly tepid start, the Royals look a solid unit and their Indian contingent is perhaps the most useful in the league.

In Sanju Samson, K Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, and Dhawal Kulkarni, they have players who know how to do enough to win matches.

And, if we add Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Ajinkya Rahane, and Jaydev Unadkat, the team assumes a solid look, one that could make it to the playoffs and might well walk away with the trophy.

#2 Kings XI Punjab

Rahul is batting like a dream

With R Ashwin at the helm, Kings XI Punjab are looking the most refreshing team in the league as they are playing an entertaining brand of cricket and are winning matches.

They have depth in batting, seam and spin bowling and are replete with match-winners who can turn up any day and win matches.

KL Rahul is batting like a dream, Chris Gayle sauntered in and smashed a half-century, Karun Nair is stringing together consistent performances as a result of which there is no dearth of high scores.

With the ball, R Ashwin, young Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, and Andrew Tye have been getting the job done without too much fuss, and if the cover of the book is anything to go by, the story might well be a glittering one!

#1 Sunrisers Hyderabad

Dhawan has been superb with the bat

When David Warner was handed a ban, there were fears that Sunrisers Hyderabad would struggle to compete in the league, but SRH have quickly dispelled all the fears with one dominating performance after another.

They have at their disposal perhaps the best bowling combination on view and this is their biggest strength. However, Shikhar Dhawan's prolific form at the top of the order coupled with Kane Williamson's amazing consistency, SRH look to have the mettle of champions.

And then they have Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Billy Stanlake, and Siddharth Kaul as their bowlers and we have a solid composition which win games.

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