Game on...

Here is a look at the RCB team for the 2014 IPL edition - and my take on it. Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB DeVilliers, Yuvraj Singh, Nic Maddinson, Vijay Zol are the batsmen in the teamMitchell Starc, Varun Aaron, Ashok Dinda, Muthiah Muralidharan, Ravi Rampaul,  Harshal Patel,  Abu Nechim,  Shahab Jakati,  Sandeep Warrior, Yuzvendra Chahal are the bowlersAlbie Morkel, Sachin Rana, Tanmay Mishra are the allroundersParthiv Patel and Yogesh Takawale are the wicket keepers

The strategy behind this team selection was very confusion at first.But on careful analysis, I believe this might turn out to be one of the stronger teams in this year’s IPL.
The team has a tremendous batting line up with Gayle, AB, Virat and Yuvaraj.Throw in the big hitting Albie Morkel – this team will post huge scores, especially in good batting conditions – and win many matches just on the back of batting.In the bowling department, the team seems to have preferred the quick bowlers – all of them seem to be bowlers who…

Here is a  look at the SRH team for the 2014 IPL edition - and my take on it. Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner, Aaron Finch, KL Rahul, Venugopal Rao, S Anirudha, Manprit Juneja and Ricky Bhui are the pure-play batsmenDarren Sammy, Irfan Pathan, Moises Henriques and Parveez Rasool are the all-roundersThey have 3 wicketkeeper batsmen in Naman Ojha, Brendan Taylor and Amit PaunikarDale Steyn, Amit Mishra, Karan Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Jason Holder, P Parameswaran, Ashish Reddy, Chama Milind are the fast bowlers

This is a big team with a lot of bench strength.I think the following players will be automatic selections - atleast for the initial games: Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner, Aaron Finch, Darren Sammy, Irfan Pathan, Naman Ojha, Amit Mishra, Karan Sharma, Dale Steyn, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Ishanth Sharma.
The batting will revolve around Shikhar, Warner and Finch and the team will be hoping they fire in all the games.Beyond these three, there is not a lot of batting.
The bowlin…

Here is a  look at the CSK team for the 2014 IPL edition - and my take on it. Brendon McCullum, Faf Du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Dwayne Smith, Mithun Manhas and Baba Aparajit are the pure play batsmenRavichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, John Hastings, Vijay Shankar are the all roundersDhoni is the keeperMohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Ishwar Pandey, Ben Hilfenhaus, Samuel Badree, Matt Henry, Ronit More, Pavan Negi are the pure play bowlersI think the following players will be automatic selections - atleast for the initial games: Dhoni, Raina, Bravo, McCullum, Faf Du Plessis, Ashwin, Jadeja, Mohit Sharma and Ishwar Pandey. Matt Henry, Ben Hilfenhaus, Samuel Badree and Dwayne Smith will compete for the 4th international player slot - based on whether Dhoni wants to play an extra bowler or batsman.  
There are a lot of all rounders in the squad.  Even though Dhoni doesn’t prefer it, I think there will be a lot more changes in the playing XI this ye…