Most groups have assembled nice squads however components like accidents and the brand new guidelines utilized on the captains meet would possibly change a number of issues
About 24 hours from now, one of India’s biggest festivals, the Indian Premier League (IPL), will begin. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will butt heads at the Eden Gardens, and a 2-month long sports carnival will commence. It will culminate on May 25, at the very same venue.
No one knows who will win unless you put your faith in betting odds. But there is a way by which you can come close to determining it by analysing the squad of each IPL 2025 team. That way, one can gauge which franchise has the better chance of taking the coveted trophy home.
CSK get 9/10 for all-round team
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) retained their core, and considering the Chepauk pitch will spin, they have got a good squad. They have spinner hitters and bowlers stacked on their side. They have fast bowlers who can do well with both the new and old balls. They are multiple all-rounders as well.
A cause of worry might be the form of Devon Conway, Noor Ahmad, and Matheesha Pathirana. If they drop Conway and open with Rachin Ravindra, they might have issues with the middle order. No one knows how Rahul Tripathi and Deepak Hooda will perform if needed. If Pathirana can’t do well, they will have to rely on Nathan Ellis at the backend.
CSK squad for IPL 2025
Batters: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Devon Conway (wk)✈️, Rahul Tripathi, Shaik Rasheed, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddharth
All-rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Rachin Ravindra✈️, Ravichandran Ashwin, Vijay Shankar, Sam Curran✈️, Deepak Hooda✈️, Jamie Overton, Shreyas Gopal, Ramakrishna Ghosh
Bowlers: Matheesha Pathirana✈️, Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad✈️, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary, Gurjapneet Singh, Nathan Ellis✈️, Kamlesh Nagarkoti
RCB, 7/10: Weak middle-order, shortage of spinners
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will enter as one of the most top-heavy teams. They have Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Phil Salt in their top three. But they have no middle-order batter who can pace the innings. Devdutt Padikkal is too slow, and the rest, like Tim David, Liam Livingstone, Romario Shepherd, and Jitesh Sharma, are finishers. What can Jacob Bethell do? That will be a solid question to ask and see the results of.
As for bowling, they have great pace bowling options for once, but they lack in the spin department. They have three frontline spinners, out of which two are defensive bowlers, Swapnil Singh and Krunal Pandya. Only Suyash Sharma can be a regular striker, but even he doesn’t have a great IPL record either.
RCB squad for IPL 2025
Batters: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Phil Salt✈️, Tim David✈️, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara
All-rounders: Liam Livingstone✈️, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd✈️, Jacob Bethell✈️, Manoj Bhandage, Mohit Rathee
Bowlers: Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood✈️, Rasikh Dar, Suyash Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Swapnil Singh, Nuwan Thushara✈️, Lungi Ngidi✈️, Abhinandan Singh
8/10 for MI due to Jasprit Bumrah uncertainty
Mumbai Indians (MI) have a great batting lineup. It’s filled with proven performers and some talented potential stars. The addition of Mitchell Santner can bode very well for them and having Mujeeb Ur Rahman is definitely good as well. But there is a massive problem.
Yes, they got Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar. The best powerplay bowlers in the IPL since 2020. But the fact that it isn’t certain whether Jasprit Bumrah will play in the IPL 2025 season makes them from perhaps the top two favourites to difficult-to-make playoffs candidates. That’s the Bumrah effect.
MI squad for IPL 2025
Batters: Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (wk)✈️, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Robin Minz (wk), Naman Dhir, Shrijith Krishnan (wk), Bevon Jacobs✈️
All-rounders: Hardik Pandya (c), Mitchell Santner✈️, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacks✈️, Arjun Tendulkar, Corbin Bosch✈️,Raj Angad Bawa
Bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult✈️, Karn Sharma, Ashwani Kumar, Reece Topley✈️, Satanyarayana Raju, Vignesh Puthur, Mujeeb Ur Rahman✈️
RR with no all-rounder & lack of spinners scores 7/10
Rajasthan Royals (RR) might be in trouble despite bringing Rahul Dravid back. They don’t have all-rounders and spinners. If one counts Riyan Parag as an all-rounder, then RR have 2. But otherwise, it’s just Wanindu Hasaranga. They have 8 pacers. That seems like way too many.
Maheesh Theekshana and Hasaranga don’t have great IPL records either. Kumar Kartikeya didn’t even play last season. The good thing is they have well-defined role players. They retained four batters, all of whom will play. Parag will be the fifth. Then they have Jofra Archer, who is a concern as well due to his form and injury-prone nature.
RR squad for IPL 2025
Batters: Sanju Samson (c & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Shimron Hetmyer✈️, Nitish Rana, Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Kunal Rathore
All-rounders: Riyan Parag, Wanindu Hasaranga✈️
Bowlers: Sandeep Sharma, Jofra Archer✈️, Maheesh Theekshana✈️, Tushar Deshpande, Fazalhaq Farooqi✈️, Kwena Maphaka✈️, Akash Madhwal, Yudhvir Singh, Kumar Kartikeya, Ashok Sharma
KKR, 8.5/10: Too many top-order options & captain conundrum
KKR have made Ajinkya Rahane captain. This means they can’t drop a player they bought for Rs 1.50 crore at the IPL 2025 auction. This also means that Angkrish Raghvanshi may not play since Venkatesh Iyer also bats in the top three.
Sunil Narine is their opener; either Quinton de Kock or Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who are the wicketkeepers they have, will have to play. So how do they accommodate Rahane, Raghuvanshi, and Venkatesh? They don’t. The all-rounders, spinners, and pacers are all set. But the problem starts from the top for KKR.
KKR squad for IPL 2025
Batters: Rinku Singh, Quinton de Kock (wk)✈️, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk)✈️, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rovman Powell✈️, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia, Ajinkya Rahane (c)
All-Rounders: Venkatesh Iyer (vc), Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali✈️, Ramandeep Singh, Andre Russell✈️, Sunil Narine✈️
Bowlers: Anrich Nortje✈️, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Spencer Johnson✈️, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy
LSG, 6.5/10: Pacers injured, what is Pant’s batting number
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) are in massive trouble. Four of their six Indian pacers are in rehab. Akash Singh, Prince Yadav, and Shamar Joseph are all they are left with right now. Some of those injured might return to play in IPL 2025, but it still isn’t good.
Their batting looks fine. The question is, where will captain Rishabh Pant be? He’s mostly played at number four, but to make a place in India’s T20I team, he might just wish to open. The spin might be a slight issue as well. They have defensive spinners, which means pacers will have to take most wickets, and all of their quicks are injured or injury-prone.
LSG squad for IPL 2025
Batters: Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Aiden Markram✈️, Nicholas Pooran✈️ (wk), Ayush Badoni, David Miller✈️, Abdul Samad, Matthew Breetzke✈️(wk), Aryan Juyal (wk), Himmat Singh, Mitchell Marsh (won’t bowl)✈️
All-rounders: Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Arshin Kulkarni
Bowlers: Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, Akash Deep, M. Siddharth, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Akash Singh, Shamar Joseph✈️, Prince Yadav
DC, 8.5/10: KL Rahul in middle order, who is Harry Brook’s replacement?
Delhi Capitals (DC) had assembled a pretty strong side, even though they let Pant go. But losing Harry Brook isn’t that great. What’s worse is that they haven’t named a replacement. They would like a middle-order overseas batter like Dewald Brevis. We hear Dasun Shanaka has joined them, but it isn’t confirmed.
The team looks well-rounded but the fact that KL Rahul, who is one of the six openers to score 4,000 runs in the IPL, may not open the innings just doesn’t sound right. Moreover, we hear he might play in the middle order. With Ashutosh Sharma and Tristian Stubbs present, one doesn’t need Rahul at number five or six.
DC squad for IPL 2025
Batters: KL Rahul (wk), Jake Fraser-McGurk✈️, Karun Nair, Faf du Plessis (vc)✈️, Abishek Porel (wk), Tristan Stubbs✈️, Sameer Rizvi
All-rounders: Axar Patel (c), Donovan Ferreira✈️, Ashutosh Sharma, Ajay Mandal, Manvanth Kumar, Madhav Tiwari, Dasun Shanaka✈️
Bowlers: Darshan Nalkande, Vipraj Nigam, Tripurana Vijay, Mitchell Starc✈️, T Natarajan, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera✈️, Kuldeep Yadav
PBKS: 9/10 for all bases covered
Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) decision to retain just two players has worked well. Despite paying Rs 26.75 crore for Shreyas Iyer, they assembled a great team. Shreyas will bat at three, and Prabhsimran Singh will open. All the other batters are very flexible and can anyway.
Another good thing is the number of great all-rounders PBKS have. Even in the bowling, they have two of the best Indian bowlers, Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal. It does seem like IPL 2025 might be PBKS’ best season.
PBKS squad for IPL 2025
Batters: Shreyas Iyer (c), Josh Inglis (wk)✈️, Pyla Avinash, Priyansh Arya, Harnoor Singh Pannu, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Nehal Wadhera, Vishnu Vinod (wk)
All-rounders: Marcus Stoinis✈️, Glenn Maxwell✈️, Marco Jansen✈️, Azmatullah Omarzai✈️, Aaron Hardie✈️, Musheer Khan, Shashank Singh, Suryansh Shedge
Bowlers: Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Vyshak Vijay Kumar, Yash Thakur, Lockie Ferguson✈️, Kuldeep Sen, Xavier Bartlett✈️, Praveen Dubey, Harpreet Brar
SRH get 8/10 for bowling concerns
The batting looks good for SRH. They retained four great batters, so it makes sense. The bowling is a concern. The all-rounders can help, but Mohammed Shami is injury-prone. Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, and Rahul Chahar can go for many on batting-friendly surfaces in Hyderabad. Adam Zampa’s record seems good, but apart from those 5 matches in 2016, his numbers are below average.
SRH squad for IPL 2025
Batters: Ishan Kishan (wk), Atharva Taide, Abhinav Manohar, Sachin Baby, Aniket Verma, Heinrich Klaasen (wk)✈️, Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head ✈️
All-rounders: Wiaan Mulder✈️, Kamindu Mendis✈️, Pat Cummins (c)✈️, Nitish Kumar Reddy
Bowlers: Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Adam Zampa✈️, Simarjeet Singh, Zeeshan Ansari, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga ✈️
7.5/10: Middle-order weak, all-rounders & bowling strong for GT
Gujarat Titans (GT), much like RCB, have a strong top order but a weak middle order. They have talent, but most of them are unproven. Moreover, they are joining a new team and might need time to adjust as well. They have many all-rounders, but most of them bowl spin.
They have great strike bowlers: Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and Gerald Coetzee. These five should be enough. However, Coetzee might have injury issues. He has been out of action for a while and missed the Champions Trophy 2025.
GT squad for IPL 2025
Batters: Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk)✈️, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Anuj Rawat (wk), Sherfane Rutherford✈️
All-rounders: Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Nishant Sindhu, Mahipal Lomror, Manav Suthar, Washington Sundar, Jayant Yadav, Glenn Phillips (wk)✈️, Karim Janat✈️
Bowlers: Rashid Khan✈️, Kagiso Rabada✈️, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gerald Coetzee✈️, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar, Sai Kishore, Ishant Sharma, Kulwant Khejroliya
Editor’s Pick
Which Rajasthan Royals participant will sub out Sanju Samson as Affect Participant at IPL 2025?
High Tales
