Last Updated on 8 months by Charbel Coorey

Cricket News: IPL 2024 Preview – The key teams to watch out for | A preview of IPL 2024: Who are the main teams to watch out for?

The 17th edition of the IPL is expected to commence on March 23, 2024, and 10 teams will be giving a tough fight to win the coveted trophy. By judging some of the latest reports, one can conclude that the IPL 2024 is slated to be a volatile season, with new players and unprecedented challenges. In this article, let us make some predictions about the IPL 2024 by looking at the teams that have it in them to win the tournament this season.

There are a lot of factors that can help us determine the possible winner for the upcoming edition of the cash-rich league, such as how the team has performed in the last few editions of the IPL, the form of players and their availability, etc. From the team owner’s perspective, one can say that the odds of a team winning the tournament provide an idea of the possible return on investment. A good team on paper combined with a decent support staff will have lower odds, which signifies that they have a higher probability of winning in a particular edition and vice versa.

From an investment point of view, according to one of the most popular sports betting, the top teams with the best odds for IPL 2024 are the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, both at 4/1, followed by the Gujarat Titans at 4.5/1 and Royal Challengers Bangalore at 6.5/1. One also needs to factor in that, while calculating the odds, the star power of the team also plays a huge role, which means how many influential players are in the team.

According to the stated teams, CSK and MI have been consistent performers in the IPL, with each team winning the title five times. On the other hand, GT reached the final in the last two editions and won the trophy in their debut season of 2022, but they will be missing their skipper Hardik Pandya, who has now been traded to MI. One can’t overlook the star power of RCB, as they have some of the biggest names in cricket, such as Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, and Cameron Green.

Expectations from IPL 2024

After the conclusion of the mini-auction held in Dubai a couple of months ago, a lot of cricket pundits have started guessing that IPL 2024 will be a good amalgamation of some aspiring cricketers and the dynamic forces of a team. However, one can never discount the home venue advantage for a franchise, as it plays a huge role in strategising for the game.

In the auction, fans and the cricketing fraternity witnessed the biggest deal in the history of the IPL, and that was evident before the auction as well, because as many as seven Australian World Cup-winning players entered the auction with a base price of INR 2 crore (approximately USD 240,000). The biggest chunk of the money was gathered by the Aussies, with the Kolkata Knight Riders spending INR 24.75 crore (USD 3.3 million) on Mitchell Starc, who created a record for the most expensive player in the IPL as he came back to the auction after almost nine years.

Apart from Starc, Pat Cummins also received a humongous sum of INR 20.5 crore (USD 2.5 million) and became the second-most expensive player in the IPL. Despite the fact that these players haven’t played as many IPL games as they would’ve liked in the past, they will be expected to add to the quality and depth of the teams as the franchises have spent so much on them.

Teams to watch out for

Since the last couple of seasons, the IPL has witnessed an increase in franchises from 8 to 10, with two new franchises joining the existing roster. Let us try and evaluate the teams with the best possibility of winning the upcoming season:

• Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are the defending champions and have won the tournament five times already, and apart from that, barring the 2020 and 2022 seasons, they have managed to reach the playoffs every year they have played in. The men in yellow under the commandment of MS Dhoni seem to be a well-balanced squad, as they will be enjoying the T20 experience of players like Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, Daryl Mitchell, and Devon Conway.
• Mumbai Indians (MI) are arguably one of the fan favourites in the IPL, but they have witnessed a poor run after winning the 2020 season. A lot of factors have contributed to their recent downfall, but they showed promise last season when they reached the playoffs. With the comeback of fully fit Jasprit Bumrah combined with the explosiveness of the squad, which features youngsters like Tikak Verma, Tim David, and Hardik Pandya (who led GT to the final in the last two seasons) at the helm, they will be expected to come hard this season and claim the trophy.
• Despite being one of the new franchises, the Gujarat Titans (GT) won the title in 2022 and were the runners-up in the IPL 2023. However, they will be under the young captaincy of Shubman Gill this season, and he will be tested, especially with the burden of scoring runs and managing some of the seniors in the team. If Gill managed to churn out the best from every player on the team like Hardik did in the last two seasons, then they were in serious contention to win the trophy with players like David Miller, Kane Williamson, Rashid Khan, and Mohammed Shami ready to roar.
• Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) can easily be termed the perpetual underachievers of the IPL, especially in the last few seasons, as they boasted the likes of Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Faf du Plessis, and Mohammed Siraj. They always had a powerful squad on paper, and that hasn’t changed this season either. If they pull their socks and find a formula to perform as a unit, then they can be the team to beat in IPL 2024.

Analysing the probable winners of IPL 2024, we can conclude that it will be a thrilling season the fans will be witnessing in the next couple of months. Despite the fact that only four teams will stand a chance to reach the playoffs, the other six teams will be expected to give their best to stand a chance while at the same time entertaining the fans.