The Indian Premier League is an annual cricket event that fans shouldn’t dare to miss. The IPL has the stage that is graced by the biggest and greatest cricketers today and the upcoming edition is going to be more exciting. Now that the league has two new teams participating, fans can’t help but wonder how the whole season will turn out.
As early as now, many are already trying to figure out which teams will do well this season and are even wondering who will win the championship. Some fans would monitor the latest IPL betting odds in market leader 10CRIC and other prediction sites. While it’s still early to tell which team will win this season, there are already teams that are making quite a noise.
What Are People Saying?
Last season, Chennai Super Kings was able to get their fourth Indian Premier League title after beating Kolkata Knight Riders by 27 runs during the final held at the Dubai International Stadium. Because of this, many are wondering if CSK will be able to get another win this year.
Based on a live poll on WhoWillWinIPL.com, CSK is currently the top pick of many cricket fans to win this season. Here’s the poll standing of the top five teams that people think will win the upcoming season:
- Chennai Super Kings – 39%
- Royal Challengers Bangalore – 29%
- Mumbai Indians – 11%
- Delhi Capitals – 6%
- Kolkata Knight Riders – 5%
CSK also seems confident about how the team will do this season. Based on the list of retained players by the team, CSK will be quite a powerhouse. CSK has retained the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, and Raturaj Gaikwad before the Mega Auction that will be held this month.
While the players retained by the team made a lot of CSK fans happy, many are also wondering whether certain team performers will also be brought back to the team. CSK CEO Kasi Vishwanathan hasn’t ruled out bringing back certain players like South African cricketer Faf du Plessis.
Vishwanathan recently spoke about this and said, “We look forward to getting them back. For example, Faf has been a team man who has taken us to the finals of two important seasons. We will endeavor to go and try for him. But it’s not in our hands. We wish them all the very best wherever they are. We look forward to having a very good 2022.”
The CEO also talked about the possibility of having a full-capacity stadium in the upcoming season at the Chepauk stadium. He said, “Chennai has been a very lucky ground for us; we had a good home advantage. That is because of the support we get from the CSK fans who throng the stadium. I hope that this year we get the entire MA Chidambaram Stadium for our use.”
IPL Mega Auction 2022
While CSK has a good chance of being able to defend their title this year, we still have to see how the Mega Auction will go to have a more solid grasp of how the next season is likely to run its course. The Mega Auction is scheduled to take place on February 12 and 13 in Bengaluru.
All pre-existing teams have already released the list of their retained players before the auction. Meanwhile, Lucknow Super Giants and Ahmedabad Gujarat Titans have also already released the names of the players they have acquired before the auction.
Here are the players who have already found their teams before the auction:
Ahmedabad Gujarat Titans:
- Shubman Gill
- Hardik Pandya
- Rashid Khan
Lucknow Super Giants:
- KL Rahul
- Marcus Stoinis
- Ravi Bishnoi
Chennai Super Kings:
- Ravindra Jadeja
- MS Dhoni
- Moeen Ali
- Ruturaj Gaikwad
Delhi Capitals:
- Rishabh Pant
- Axar Patel
- Prithvi Shaw
- Anrich Rotje
Kolkata Knight Riders:
- Andre Russell
- Varun Chakravarty
- Venkatesh Iyer
- Sunil Narine
Mumbai Indians:
- Rohit Sharma
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Suryakumar Yadav
- Kieron Pollard
Punjab Kings:
- Mayank Agarwal
- Arshdeep Singh
Rajasthan Royals:
- Sanju Samson
- Jos Butler
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
- Virat Kohli
- Glenn Maxwell
- Mohammed Siraj
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
- Kane Williamson
- Abdul Samad
- Umran Malik
What We Know About the 2022 IPL So Far
While all the details about the Mega Auction are out and about, there are no official announcements on the 2022 IPL schedule and venues just yet. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to announce the official schedule after the auctions this month.
But certain cricket sites are predicting that the league will run from March 27 to May 21, 2022, with 60 to 76 matches. The possibility that India will be hosting the event is high but based on recent reports, the BCCI is also considering backup venues like the UAE and South Africa.