IPL 2021 Team Analysis - Strengths and Weakness
By Aman Sanwar

The 14th edition of Indian Premier league (IPL) is just around the corner. The big news is that the IPL is returning to India this year. Cricket fans in the entire world are feeling on top of the world as the biggest T20 Cricket extravaganza is going to start. The IPL 2021 will be the vigorous one as IPL teams will have the advantage of their home grounds and crowds. All teams’ squads for IPL 2021 have been finalised and all teams are eagerly waiting for the start of the tournament. 
  
Here in this piece of writing, we are going to discuss the strength and weaknesses of all the eight teams in IPL 2021 so one can predict who will win the IPL 2021.
  
While the Schedule of IPL is around the corner, here is a comprehensive analysis of all the IPL 2021 Teams. Let us start with defending champion Mumbai Indians (MI).
  
 Mumbai Indians (MI)
  
MI Squad IPL 2021: Aditya Tare (WK), Anmolpreet Singh, Chris Lynn, Ishan Kishan (WK), Quinton de Kock (WK), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Saurabh Tiwary.Anukul Roy, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Arjun Tendulkar, James Neesham, Marco Jensen, and Yudhvir Charak.Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohsin Khan, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Adam Milne, Nathan Coulter-Nile, and Piyush Chawla.
  
Strengths: No doubt Mumbai Indians is the most successful team in the entire IPL history with five titles on their name. The main strength of MI is their batting line up. Their team is full of match winning batsmen from top to lower order. The finishers like Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya can change any situation. Also, MI fast bowling attack is also very strong, although Lasith Malinga is not part of the squad anymore since 2020 but still they have the best fast bowling attack in the tournament. In the presence of Trent Boult and Nathan Coulter-Nile we can expect the miracle from Mumbai Indians.
  
Weakness: If we talk about the weakness of Mumbai Indians then Spin Bowling is the weakest point of MI in 2021. There are no experienced spinners present in the squad except Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya. Mumbai Indians needs more spinners on their squad in order to conquer the grounds more efficiently. 
  
IPL 2020 Performance: The Mumbai Indians is the champion of IPL 2020 and finished the tournament with the trophy. 
  
Mumbai Indians IPL Prediction 2021: MI is the best team in IPL history with five titles on their name. They have almost everything perfect on their squad to defeat any team in the IPL. MI will reach the IPL 2021 Final and probably will win the title one more time. 
  
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
  
CSK Squad IPL 2021: Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni (C&WK), N Jagadeesan (WK), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa (WK), Suresh Raina, Cheteshwar Pujara, and CH Nishaanth.
 Dwayne Bravo, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Bhagat Varma, K Gowtham, Moeen Ali.Deepak Chahar, Imran Tahir, Josh Hazlewood, Karn Sharma, KM Asif, Lungi Ngidi, R Sai Kishore, Shardul Thakur, and Harishankar Reddy.
  
Strengths: Three times winner Chennai Super Kings was very unlucky in the IPL 2020 as they did not make to Playoffs. The main strength of CSK is that they have the most experienced players on their squad. Their spin bowling attack is very powerful in the presence of Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadeja. The top order is quite strong with Faf du Plessis and Suresh Raina.
  
Weakness: The Chennai Super Kings is the team with not so many weaknesses. They have a good top order and good bowling attack. All the negative points are that most of their players are away from cricket for a long time and the lack of practice turns out to be a weakness.
  
IPL 2020 Performance: The Chennai Super Kings finished 7th in IPL 2020.
  
Chennai Super Kings IPL Prediction 2021: Till 2019, Chennai Super Kings was the most consistent team in IPL but in the 2020 season due to some factors they could not perform well and finished 7th. The main reason was absence of Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh who pulled right before the start of the IPL 2020 due to some personal reasons. But this Raina is back, and the team has made some major changes to their squad. We can expect a flawless performance from CSK reaching Playoffs at least. 
  
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
  
RCB Squad IPL 2021: Ab de Villiers (WK), Devdutt Padikkal, Joshua Philippe (WK), Virat Kohli (C), KS Bharath, Mohd. Azharuddin (WK), Rajat Patidar, Sachin Baby. Harshal Patel, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahmad, Washington Sundar, Daniel Christian,Glenn Maxwell, Kyle Jamieson.Adam Zampa, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson, Mohammad Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, S Prabhudesai.
  
Strengths: The main Strength of Virat Kohli led team RCB is their Top and middle order. But after releasing Aaron Finch, RCB will have to build trust in a new player for the opener and he might be Joshua Philippe. In this case Virat Kohli can bat in his favourite position, I.e. Number three. Also, RCB have overcome their biggest hurdle which was their bowling attack. Now they have a variety of bowlers available on their squad like Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kane Richardson.
  
Weaknesses: RCB major weakness is that they are dependent on their top order and strong backup in middle order. After Ab de Villiers who comes at number 4, there is no reliable finisher available. 
  
IPL 2020 Performance: The Royal Challengers Bangalore finished 4th in IPL 2020.
  
Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL Prediction 2021: If we look upon the history of RCB in IPL, one does not expect them to even reach the play offs. RCB is the most unpredictable team in IPL but in 2020 a miracle happened when RCB reached the eliminator and lost to SRH. So, we say RCB can perform well. It would be dependent on several factors, especially RCB bowlers would have to play a key role. 
  
 Delhi Capitals (DC)
DC Squad IPL 2021:  Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer, Shreyas Iyer (C), Sam Billings (WK), Steve Smith, Vishnu Vinod (WK). Axar Patel, Chris Woakes, Lalit Yadav, Marcus Stoinis, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ripal Patel,Tom Curran. Amit Mishra, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Pravin Dubey, Lukman Meriwala, M Siddharth, Umesh Yadav.
  
Strengths: After an impressive performance in IPL 2020m DC retained most of its players like Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Kagiso Rabada. Delhi Capitals main strength is their strong batting line up which consists of Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant and Ajinkya Rahane. DC is the only team in IPL which does not depend upon any overseas batsman and all Indian core players. For the Middle order, Shimron Hetmyer is the very good choice to contribute.
  
Weaknesses: DC team really depends upon Rishabh Pant and Shimron Hetmyer when it comes to finishing the games. They need a proper finisher also they lack an Indian Pacer in their bowling attack. Delhi Capitals have Ishant Sharma but his capabilities are limited in T20Is.
  
 IPL 2020 Performance: The Delhi Capitals lost the final from Mumbai Indians and finished 2nd in IPL 2020. 
  
Delhi Capitals IPL Prediction 2021: The Delhi Capitals is a very well-balanced team. In IPL 2020, they reached the finals but lost the match and finished the tournament 2nd. In IPL 202, DC will probably be the most dangerous team and will make other teams go through tough times.
  
 Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
KKR Squad IPL 2021: Dinesh Karthik (C&WK), Eoin Morgan, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh, Shubman Gill, Tim Seifert, Karun Nair, Sheldon Jackson. Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Ben Cutting, Pawan Negi, Shakib Al Hasan, Venkatesh Iyer.
 Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Harbhajan Singh, Vaibhav Arora
  
Strengths: Two times champion Kolkata Knight Riders have a strong squad filled with players who can make a strong impact on T20 format. They have strong batting and bowling power in the shape of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. These two West Indians can turn any game in their favor. 
  
Weaknesses: However, KKR have good overseas players but their Indian Players have lack of experience. KKR depend heavily on their overseas players. They need some bigger contributions from Indian players like Dinesh Karthik, Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana etc. Also, they need experienced Indian pacers to perform well in IPL 2021.
  
 IPL 2020 Performance: The Kolkata Knight Riders finished 5th in IPL 2020.
  
Kolkata Knight Riders IPL Prediction 2021: The Dinesh Karthik led army is mostly dependent upon West Indian Allrounders Andre Russel and Sunil Narine. In order to reach the playoffs or lift the trophy third time, KKR needs to work as a team. They can give tough time to other competent. 
  
 Punjab Kings (KXIP)
  
Punjab Kings Squad IPL 2021: KL Rahul (C&WK), Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran (WK), Prabsimran Singh, Sarfaraz Khan. Chris Gayle, Darshan Nalkande, Deepak Hooda, Harpreet Brar, Dawid Malan, Fabien Allen,Jalaj Saxena, Moises Henriques, Saurabh Kumar, Shahrukh Khan, Utkarsh Singh.Arshdeep Singh, Chris Jordan, Ishan Porel, Mohammed Shami, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith.
  
Strengths: Punjab Kings was at the 6th position in IPL 2020. Punjab Kings have a very strong captain KL Rahul and also a very strong batting line up with two power hitters Chris Gayle and KL Rahul himself. The bowling side is well covered with both fast and spin bowling comprising Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan and Ravi Bishnoi.
  
Weaknesses: Punjab Kings have not any good backup options after top order. Also, the unreliable Chris Gayle form is their biggest weakness. The 42-year-old is not a reliable player for Punjab Kings. 
  
 IPL 2020 Performance: Punjab Kings finished 6th in IPL 2020.
  
Punjab Kings IPL Prediction 2021: Kings XI Punjab who recently changed their name to Punjab Kings have great potential in their squad and they possess several great performers in their ranks. If the youngsters in Punjab Kings perform well, they can reach the top 4 easily.
  
 Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
  
SRH Squad IPL 2021: David Warner (C), Jonny Bairstow (WK), Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Priyam Garg, Shreevats Goswami (WK), Virat Singh, Wriddhiman Saha (WK). Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Jason Holder, Mitchell Marsh, Mohammad Nabi, Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav. Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Siddharth Kaul, T Natarajan, Jagadeesha Suchith, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
  
Strengths: The main strength of Sunrisers Hyderabad is their opening pair which is the best opening pair in the IPL David Warner and Jonny Bairstow. The duo has the record of highest opening partnership in IPL history against RCB. The other strength is the spinner Rashid Khan who is currently the number one T20 spinner in the world. He is also a good finisher.
  
Weaknesses: The Sunrisers Hyderabad is weak in middle order. There is no reliable name after Warner and Bairstow. All they have Vijay Shankar and Wriddhiman Saha, who are not proper batsman for T20 format.
  
 IPL 2020 Performance: The Sunrisers Hyderabad finished 3rd in IPL 2020.
  
Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL Prediction 2021: SRH is now dependent on the performance of Warner, Bairstow and Rashid Khan. If these players perform well, SRH could have finished in top 4 but in order to grab the trophy the whole team should perform up to the mark.
  
 Rajasthan Royals (RR)
  
RR Squad IPL 2021: Anuj Rawat (WK), David Miller, Jos Buttler (WK), Manan Vohra, Sanju Samson (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Liam Livingstone. Ben Stokes, Mahipal Lomrar, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Chris Morris, Shivam Dube.Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Jofra Archer, Kartik Tyagi, Mayank Markhande, Shreyas Gopal, Akash Singh, Chetan Sakariya, KC Cariappa, Kuldip Yadav, Mustafizur Rahman.
  
Strengths: Rajasthan Royals have a great pool of talent in the form of Jos Buttler and best white ball bowler Jofra Archer. They have a strong opening pair and the availability of Shreyas Gopal as the spinner will boost the team. This time Rajasthan Royals picked Chris Morris for a whopping Rs 16.25 Cr. Let us see what he delivers for RR this time in IPL 2021.
  
Weaknesses: The Rajasthan Royals team is heavily reliant on overseas players also the lack of variety in spin bowling might become a worry.
  
 IPL 2020 Performance:  The Rajasthan Royals finished 8th in IPL 2020.
  
Rajasthan Royals IPL Prediction 2021: According to the current situation of the RR team, one cannot expect bigger performance from them. However, they have some great players on their squad who can change the game in the wink of an eye. 
  
You read it all. Can you guess who will be the finalist of season 14? Do tell us in comments. 

IPL 2021 Official Website