IPL 4: NEW SEASON, NEW TEAMS, BIGGER EXCITEMENT

The mega event, Indian Premier League will be kicking off just 4 days after the ICC Cricket World Cup ends and the owners of the respective franchises have selected all players in the auction just a few days ago.  


One of the new changes which were bought to the heavy budget tournament was the inclusion of two new teams, Pune Warriors and Kochi. There are now 10 teams in the tournament are are divided into a group of two.


This year will also be disappointing for our country as Pakistani players will not be participating in this year’s tournament also. The Pakistani players were snubbed off in the 2010 season and are not allowed to take part in this year too. A spokesman for the IPL said that the Pakistan Cricket Board did not send any names for the auction which was going to be held.


NEW SQUADS:


Well known players which will be playing this year are:


Chennai Super Kings: Dwayne Bravo ( Mumbai Indians), Scott Styris (Deccan Chargers), Joginder Sharma (Retained), Albie Morkel (Retained), Suresh Raina (Retained), Michael Hussey (Retained), Nuwan Kulasekera, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Retained), Ben Hilfenhaus (Australia).


Kings XI Punjab: Shaun Marsh (Retained), David Hussey (Kolkata Knight Riders), Piyush Chawla (Retained), Ryan Harris (Deccan Chargers), Dimitri Mascrenhas (Rajasthan Royals), Adam Gilchrist (Deccan Chargers), Praveen Kumar (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Stuart Broad (England).


Deccan Chargers: J.P Duminy (Mumbai Indians), Kevin Pieterson (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Michael Lumb (England), Kumar Sangakkara (Kings XI Punjab), Cameron White (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Dale Steyn (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Ishant Sharma (Kolkata Knight Riders).


Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (Retained), Luke Pomersbach (Kings XI Punjab), Daniel Vettori (Delhi Daredevils), Zaheer Khan (Mumbai Indians), Charl Langeveldt (Retained), Johan Van Der Wath, Dirk Nannes (Delhi Daredevils).


Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (Retained), Irfan Pathan (Kings XI Punjab), David Warner (Delhi Daredevils), James Hopes (Kings XI Punjab), Morne Morkel (Retained), Ajit Agarkar (Kolkata knight Riders), Roelof Van Der Merwe.


Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (Delhi Daredevils), Eoin Morgan, Yusuf Pathan (Rajasthan Royals), Jacques Kallis (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Brad Haddin, Brett Lee (Kings XI Punjab), Laxmipathy Balaji (Chennai Super Kings).


Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Ross Taylor (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Shane Watson (Retained), Paul Collingwood (Delhi Daredevils), Johan Botha, Shane Warne (Retained), Shaun Tait (Retained).


Sahara Pune Warriors: Graeme Smith (Rajasthan Royals), Robin Uthappa (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Yuvraj Singh (Kings XI Punjab), Angelo Matthews (Kolkata Knight Riders), Nathan McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Mitchell Marsh, Ashish Nehra (Delhi Daredevils), Wayne Parnell.


Kochi IPL Team: Brad Hodge (Kolkata Knight Riders), Mahela Jayawardene (Kings XI Punjab), VVS Laxman (Deccan Chargers), Owais Shah (Delhi Daredevils), Steven Smith, Brendon McCullum (Kolkata Knight Riders), Sreesanth (Kings XI Punjab), RP Singh (Deccan Chargers), Muttiah Muralitharan (Chennai Super Kings).


Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (Retained), Kieron Pollard, James Franklin, Andrew Symonds (Deccan Chargers), Moises Henriques, Davy Jacobs, Harbhajan Singh (Retained), Lasith Malinga (Retained), Clint McKay. 


The Shockers:


There were many surprising moments in the auctions were that there were no buyers for Brian Lara, Chris Gayle, Sourav Ganguly, Graeme Swann, James Anderson and Sanath Jayasuriya. These players have played a major role in the teams and are still performing for their countries and local counties.


Chris Gayle should have been selected because of his aggressive style and hard hitting shots. Sourav Ganguly  played  brilliantly in the 3rd season for the Knight Riders and he was the only one who had really performed for the team and nearly took them into the semi finals. Graeme Swann and James Anderson were also one of the most looked players and most of the people were heavily anticipating the bid for the British. Non selection of Jayasuriya and Lara was widely criticized by the people as everyone loves to see them play.


IPL 4 will be very interesting to watch as everything has completely changed and all the teams will have to think of different strategies as all the players have changed and all the players know the players’ strength and weaknesses. This is going to be one hell of a season.

Note: The brackets tells the old franchise in which the players performed