While most of the people and cricket fans wrote off CSK before the start of the IPL 2018 by tagging them with various names like “ team of Old war horses “ or “ Vintage Eleven”, Dhoni and his men proved everyone wrong by taking home the trophy for the third time. Moreover, the biggest surprise in the whole tournament was the performances of the so called “Old horses” Shane Watson , Dhoni, Rayudu and Du plessis which left everyone awe-struck with their superb all round display.
On one hand we witnessed the magnificent batting by the Opening pair of the Watson and Rayudu whilst on the other hand. It was Dhoni’s brilliant captaincy which came to the rescue for the team many times during the whole tournament. So, as the IPL 2018 is done and dusted, all of the teams have set their eyes now on the next year’s IPL tournament and although CSK still comes as the most balanced tam amongst the rest, let’s have a look at 3 teams which can challenge CSK for the IPL 2019 trophy.
#1 Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians is that one team which has not only won IPL trophy for the record 3 times, but has convincingly proved that they are still one of the most balanced teams in the IPL history. Even though they weren’t been able to make it to the IPL playoffs in IPL 2018, they still holds all the power to put up a serious challenge for the Chennai super kings in the next year’s edition.
Perfect Captain
Rohit Sharma is one of those captains who have always kept his cool even in the closest of the situations and this could well be the reason behind his brilliant captaincy record for the Mumbai Team. Moreover, he has always shown hi belief in his team players even when they are thrashed by the opponents during the match and this has been quoted as the mantra behind his leaderships skills in IPL.
Death bowling expert
Jasprit Bumrah is that one player which is holding the responsibility of being the perfect death bowling specialist for the Mumbai Indians team since past few years. He has been phenomenal with his line and length even when the pitch and weather conditions are not supporting the bowling side.
Big Bunch of All-rounders
There is hardly any team in IPL which have more proven all-rounder in their squad than the Mumbai Indians, with the likes of Pandya, Pollard, cutting, Krunal in their squad; they sometimes feel it hard to decide which one to pick for the match.
Young talent
While Mumbai has always been home to many Global key players in their team since start, they have always given chance to some of the most talented youngsters across the globe. Players like Evin Lewis, Surya kumar yadav, Mayank markande, Ishan kishan are just to name a few. That is why this team comes as a perfectly balanced team which can put up some serious challenge to any team on any given day.
#2 Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight riders has always been a well balanced team and it was only due to injury issues to most of their key players before the tournament that they found it hard to make it to the top in the IPL 2018. Still the team is up and ready for the 2019 edition with more power and positivity.
Captaincy
Captaincy isn’t a new thing for a player like Dinesh karthik who has earlier captained the Tamil nadu side in the Ranji trophy as well. He has been that one captain during the whole IPL 2018, who have trusted his Young players above the Old war horses and this was the reason why all the youngsters in the team have performed for the team when and wherever required.
All-rounders
Andre Russell and Sunil Naraine has been the Key all-rounder for the KKR team in the IPL 2018 and even though Russell was struggling with his thigh injury before and during the tournament, he along with Naraine has delivered some really crucial performances during the whole tournament.
Mixed Blend of Young and Experienced players
KKR has been the perfect blend of both experienced and young talent in the IPL 2018. While they have players like Robin Uthhappa, Piyush chawla and Captain Dinesh karthik from the experienced lot, they did comprise of some serious young talent like Nitish rana, Chris Lynn, Shubhman Gill and Shivam Mavi as well. Keeping the same in mind, they can come up as a serious threat for the defending champions CSK in 2019 IPL.
#3 Sunrisers Hyderabad
Although Sunrisers Hyderabad did get stunned by the ban on their captain and key batsman David Warner before the IPL 2018, they still came up well in the whole tournament. Even though they fell down to the mighty CSK in the finale, the team will be hungry to take the revenge back in the IPL 2019.
The “Williamson” effect
Kane Williams on has surprised everyone with his stunning performance in the IPL 2018. Although everyone did know him as the most consistent Kiwi batsman in the world currently, it was his ‘Attack mode” which came as a surprise for everyone during the whole season. This was something which landed him to the Orange cap and made him a big reason for the SRH’s campaign next year.
Best Bowling side in IPL 2018
SRH was been quoted as the best bowling side in the whole tournament for a reason. Not only they had the Big international names like Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Rashid khan and shakib al hasan in their team, it was all about the youngsters like Siddharth kaul, Sandeep Sharma and Basil thampi who surprised everyone with their breathtaking spell of brilliant bowling.
Deadly opening Combo
SRH opening pair consisted of Indian national team Opener Shikhar Dhawan and Kiwi Ace batsman Kane Williamson and both of them did provide the team with great starts in most of the matches during the whole tournament. Although it was the impact of Williamson which came out in a grand manner most of the times, Dhawan also impressed everyone with his performances in bits and pieces.
All rounders section
SRH got the likes of Shakib Al-Hasan, Carlos Braithwaite, Yusuf pathan and Mohammed nabi in their IPL 2018 squad and each and every one of them delivered at some very crucial junctures for the team. Therefore, we can certainly say that this SRH teams holds the entire prowess to beat down their opponent on any given day and can pose a big threat to the dominance of CSK in IPL 2019.
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