IPL 2018: Teams that can win the title this season

#2 Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad

The 2016 IPL champions will no doubt miss their regular skipper, David Warne, who is serving a one-year ban from the game due to the involvement in the shocking Sandpaper gate. The fans of the Orange army will be looking forward to a successful season under their new skipper Kane Williamson, who seems to be perfect contender to replace David Warner. Alex Hales and Shikhar Dhawan will most likely open the innings for the Sunrisers, given the right-left combination and also the fact that there are no better alternates. The middle-order consists of their new skipper Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Ricky Bhui and Sachin Baby.

They boast of one of the strongest set of lower middle-order as well as the all-rounders this season. Having all-rounders like Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Carlos Brathwaite, Deepak Hooda, and Mohammad Nabi will be priceless in this format of the game. In the spin department, they have the Afghan sensation and the number one ranked T20 bowler, Rashid Khan along with Bipul Sharma. They will be complemented by the spin-bowling all-rounders- Yusuf and Shakib who can bowl some useful spells between them. The Sunrisers boast of the most prolific Indian pacers in their squad this season.

They have Bhuvneshwar Kumar-the Purple cap winner of the last two editions, Basil Thampi- Emerging player of the last year, Sandeep Sharma, Siddharth Kaul Khaleel Ahmed and T Natarajan. The overseas pacers like Chris Jordan and Billy Stanlake further strengthen their pace department. Indian test wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha will be their first-choice, while Shreevats Goswami might also don the gloves behind the stumps this season. With Tom Moody at the helm and Muralitharan and VVS Laxman as their bowling coach and mentor respectively, Williamson’s boys might go on to win their second IPL crown this season.