A new era of the Indian Premier League is upon us in 2022 with the introduction of two new franchisees and some completely renewed squads following the 2022 Mega Auction. There are plenty of new challenges for players and teams ahead of the new season, and here are five burning questions that need answering in IPL 2022.
▶ How will the new captains fare?
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There are plenty of new captains in the IPL in 2022, with Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal and Ravindra Jadeja taking over the reins of their respective franchises for the first time in the competition, while Shreyas Iyer and Faf du Plessis have been appointed as the captains of KKR and RCB. Each of these franchises will go through an adjustment period under the new leadership in 2022, and how each of the new captains adapt to their role and the fast-paced nature of the IPL will determine their success this season.
▶ Which KL Rahul are we going to see?
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Over the past few seasons, there have been two versions of KL Rahul seen at the IPL at the top of the order. The first is the version that was last prominently seen in 2018 and has appeared in a few cameo appearances since then, which saw Rahul throw caution into the wind and attack from ball one with incredible intent.
The second is the one more commonly seen in Punjab colours over the past few seasons, with Rahul assuming the role of the anchor and batting with a low strike rate to ensure that he can stay at the crease till the death overs. In terms of accumulating runs, this version of KL Rahul achieved plenty of success, winning the orange cap in 2020 and scoring 626 runs in 2021.
However, in terms of value offered to the side, the 2018 version is a superior T20 player. Rahul registered the lowest strike rate by an orange cap winner – 129 – in IPL history in the 2020 season, and his consistent inability to take the attack to the opposition plagued the Punjab Kings batting line-up and played a role in the team failing to qualify for the play-offs.
For Lucknow this season, Rahul has a deeper batting line-up to work with, and it would be in the team’s best interest if their captain ditches the run-accumulation approach and plays with great intent from ball one alongside Quinton de Kock.
▶ How will Rajasthan address their team balance issues?
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Rajasthan are one of the most interesting sides in the 2022 IPL, fielding a team that looks fairly dangerous on paper. The Royals have two excellent spinners in Ashwin and Chahal, a gun powerplay bowler in Trent Boult and five incredibly dangerous batters in the top order – Buttler, Jaiswal, Padikkal, Samson and Hetmyer.
However, despite their strengths in those areas, the Royals team as presently constructed has a fatal flaw, a lack of all-rounders. None of the top five can bowl, and barring Ravichandran Ashwin, none of the frontline bowlers offer much with the bat. This leaves the Royals in a tricky position in terms of balancing their side, needing to fill up the final two spots in the middle order with four overs of bowling and significant finishing ability with the bat.
Riyan Parag is a guaranteed starter at number six, considering the money and time the Royals have invested in him. The former U-19 star is a promising batter who can bowl a few overs of off-spin, albeit an IPL economy of 9.96 across 22 overs isn’t pretty reading. Who they select at number seven is the more fascinating decision. The Royals can field a more batting heavy team by selecting Jimmy Neesham or Daryl Mitchell as batting all-rounders or strengthening their bowling department with the inclusion of Nathan Coulter-Nile at number seven.
Considering how they built their squad at the auction, there will be some trade-offs involved for Rajasthan and how they go about balancing this squad could determine how much success they have this season.
▶ Where will Virat Kohli bat?
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Virat Kohli has danced between opening and batting at number three for the majority of his career at RCB, and where the former captain will bat in the 2022 season for the Royal Challengers remains a mystery. Most of Kohli’s success in the IPL has come as an opener, where the Indian can go after the pacers in the powerplay and anchor the innings. However, the RCB squad dynamics this season and the addition of Faf du Plessis means that Kohli may not be best suited to that position for this season. Kohli and du Plessis are stylistically similar players as right-handed anchors who demolish pace but struggle against spin, and the team could fail to score quickly if both of them are batting together in the middle for long periods.
The additions of Mahipal Lomror and Anuj Rawat further complicate RCB’s batting situation, with both players better suited to a top-order role, thereby forcing Kohli to bat at number three and play a slightly different role for the team.
▶ Who will the conditions favour?
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Owing to the ongoing threat of Covid-19, the entirety of the league phase will be played in Maharashtra in IPL 2022, with 70 games sprawled across four venues in Mumbai and Pune. Each team will play four games at the Wankhede Stadium and DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai and three games in the Brabourne Stadium and MCA Stadium in Pune.
Three of the four venues – Wankhede, Pune, Brabourne – should be high scoring based on the recent data of games played at those grounds along with the small boundaries. DY Patil will offer more respite to the bowlers with its longer boundaries, but it hasn’t hosted an IPL game since 2011, giving little indication of what conditions can be expected.
This edition of the IPL should be high-scoring, with pitches gradually deteriorating as the tournament progresses due to the normal wear and tear. The teams most expected to benefit from these conditions are those with powerful batting line-ups such as Delhi, Punjab and Mumbai, considering the flat tracks and short boundaries will neutralize most bowling line-ups and make most matches a straight six-hitting shootout.
[Featured Image Credit: IPL – Indian Premier League]
Shivaan Shah