IPL 2021: Ranking every team by its finishers

6. Rajasthan Royals

Teawatia(L) and Parag(R) helped the Royals mastermind some incredible run chases. (Image Courtesy: IPLT20.com)

Potential Finishers: Liam Livingstone, David Miller, Chris Morris, Ben Stokes/ Jos Buttler, Anuj Rawat, Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, and Rahul Tewatia.

Rajasthan Royals masterminded some extraordinary chases last season, with youngsters like Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag stepping up with some great performances. However, it looks like they're likely to depend on the same players again.

Liam Livingstone and David Miller are decent bench options who don't look like they're going to play. One usually wouldn't call a team with Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler as lacking in quality finishers. However, neither of them was too comfortable batting in the middle-order last season, with most of their notable contributions coming when they opened the batting.

Chris Morris can wield the willow to good effect, but even he has been pretty inconsistent. Similarly, Shivam Dube seems to have the firepower, but the fact that he has no 30+ scores makes him another unproven commodity.

All in all, RR does have some good middle-order options, but they don't look settled or comfortable as a side. Expect the burden of finishing off games to fall on Rahul Tewatia once again.

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5. Chennai Super Kings

CSK needs to provide more balls to Sam Curran and Jadeja this season. (Image Courtesy: IPLT20.com)

Potential Finishers: MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Krishnappa Gowtham, Moeen Ali, DJ Bravo, Sam Curran, and Mitchell Santner.

Ranking Chennai Super Kings at number 5 would probably be an unpopular opinion. But the fact is that despite the plethora of talent available in their ranks, there are much better finishing units than them.

CSK's main problem last season was that their top order was eating up too many deliveries and not giving much time for their middle-order batsmen to settle. Ravindra Jadeja was arguably their best batsman last season. And he faced way too few balls than what he would've liked.

The pattern looks like it will continue in IPL 2021 as CSK seems to have packed their team with similar players but it doesn't seem clear who will play. MS Dhoni's form has waned over the last two seasons, which is only natural given that the only competitive cricket he has played since the 2019 World Cup has been in the IPL.

All in all, CSK has one of the most talented pool of finishers, but unless they sort their team out properly, they're still likely to end up on the losing side of games.