The IPL 2024 season is tentatively to start on March 22. This will be the 17th edition of the biggest T20 franchise league in the world where most of the best T20 players will feature in the tournament.
The return of Mitchell Starc has been the headlining news, and so has been his record-breaking price of INR 24.75 crore that KKR splashed on him in the auction. SRH, too, made a record-signing of INR 20.5 crore, buying the Australian captain Pat Cummins.
The IPL 2024 is also going to be a watershed tournament in its history as this season is likely going to be the last IPL season for some major stars such as MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, and David Warner.
The IPL 2024 auction took place in Dubai last month. Most of the teams look in better shape and structure from what they were last season, but a team like RCB might have an even weaker bowling attack than last tournament.
Here are the 5 strongest teams of IPL 2024 and their ratings:
Mumbai Indians – 9/10
If Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya remain fit throughout the season, then MI have all the ingredients to win the IPL 2024 title, and put one over CSK again. Despite missing Bumrah last season, Archer playing only 5 games, and Rohit Sharma being out of form, MI managed to reach the Qualifier 2.
Now, their balance has got better with the return of Hardik Pandya, bowling has got stronger with Bumrah, alongside the buys of Coetzee and Madushanka, and Rohit was in sensational form in the World Cup.
Hardik Pandya announced as captain for the IPL 2024 season.
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— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) December 15, 2023
Chennai Super Kings – 9/10
It is seldom said that a defending champion has got even stronger after winning a title. But CSK have made the perfect buy in Daryl Mitchell from the money by releasing Stokes, and either Mitchell or Rachin Ravindra could replace Ambati Rayudu in the middle-order. They have taken into account the dipping form of Moeen Ali.
CSK have stocked their bowling with the return of Shardul Thakur, who was part of their 2018 and 2021 winning teams. Mustafizur Rahman is an apt backup of Pathirana.
In IPL 2024, we could really be in for another MI vs CSK final!!!
Kolkata Knight Riders – 8/10
The return of Gautam Gambhir as KKR’s mentor has added a lot of tactical intelligence when it came to squad building. After releasing a spate of bowlers, apart from roping in Starc, KKR also bought Mujeeb, Sherfane Rutherford, and Gus Atkinson, while the buy of Manish Pandey, their 2014 final hero, was a really smart one.
KKR also missed Iyer last season, who is back to lead them again. The combination of Iyer and Gambhir could end KKR’s 9-year IPL title drought.
Lucknow Super Giants – 8.5/10
Gautam Gambhir left LSG also in a very good state after two consecutive seasons where they reached playoffs. Lucknow’s three good buys in the auction were Shivam Mavi, David Willey, and M Siddharth, and they have decent backups in Ashton Turner and Arshad Khan.
KL Rahul has reportedly made up his mind to bat in the middle-order this season, unleashing the duo of de Kock and Mayers at the top, followed by Pooran. With Bishnoi, Mishra, Wood, Stoinis, and Krunal, LSG have all their combinations for different conditions settled nicely.
Rajasthan Royals – 7.5/10
By buying Rovman Powell, RR have ensured that their side will more firepower in the lower-order than it did last season. And Riyan Parag has been in superb form in domestic cricket. Their trade of Avesh Khan for Padikkal was spot on – Padikkal was finding it difficult to get going as a middle-order batsman while Avesh is one of the fastest bowlers in the country.
The spin twin of Chahal and Ashwin, along with Boult, Saini, Avesh, Prasidh and Sandeep is a strong bowling attack. Their top-order of Buttler, Jaiswal, and Samson is arguably the most destructive one in the IPL.
RR have the talent and experience to repeat the 2008 IPL season result in IPL 2024.
