The Indian Premier League returns to India after a season in UAE with teams in bio-bubbles and quarantine measures followed strictly. While the last tournament was just six months ago, the fervour surrounding the IPL is nothing short of outrageous, and the fans are preparing for another season of excitement.
The 14th edition of the tournament has a few major changes including the fact that the entire tournament will be played across six venues with no team playing in their home venue. This major change disrupts the plans of a few franchises, but that’s how it will be this year with concerns surrounding the rising COVID-19 cases in India.
Venue
The IPL 2021 will be played in six venues – Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Delhi and Kolkata. Each of the eight franchises will play league matches at any of the four venues before the play-offs and final that will be held in the new Narendra Modi stadium at Motera in Ahmedabad.
The conditions and grounds are quite different to what the franchises have become accustomed to and with no team playing at the home ground, the advantage that some of the teams have by building squads around the type of home venue they have, is negated. One factor that could challenge franchises is that teams play blocks of games at a certain venue before moving out making it difficult to get a continuation in team selection. The pitch is considerably slower at some of the venues while some grounds are quite smaller than the others, making six-hitting fairly easy. Yet, the hot summer means that we will likely see a lot of slow and low pitches too.
Schedule
There will be eleven double headers according to the schedule and teams will play each other at 7.30 PM IST in the night game and 3.30PM IST in the evening game. The schedule also places emphasis on which teams play where and in what order. The much-awaited IPL 2021 schedule was released by BCCI in February.
Squad changes and new players
Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings have made some key additions in Moeen Ali, Krishnappa Gowtham and Robin Uthappa to their team roster at the IPL 2021 auction. Shane Watson is retired and Dwayne Bravo might be surplus to requirements as they embark on a new season. Josh Hazlewood backed out of the IPL.
Delhi Capitals
Delhi Capitals will be led by Rishabh Pant after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the IPL with an injury. The team has added some superstars in Steve Smith, Umesh Yadav and Sam Billings. They will hope to find their best XI early in the season.
Punjab Kings
With a name change and some key additions in the auction, Punjab hope to turn around a wretched run in the IPL. The franchise looks good this time with the inclusion of Fabian Allen, Riley Meredith, Jhye Richardson and world No.1 T20I batsman Dawid Malan.
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Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders signed up Shakib Al Hasan and has Harbhajan Singh also up their sleeve this time. Rinku Singh was ruled out for them, but they have added Gurkeerat Singh in the squad. Their other new major inclusion is the exciting Pawan Negi as all-rounder.
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians have Adam Milne as the third seamer and also added his Kiwi teammate James Neesham to the line-up. Young South Africa pacer Marco Jansen and Sachin Tendulkar’s son, Arjun Tendulkar are their other major signings.
Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals will be without an injured Jofra Archer for the first four matches at least. They haven’t replaced him, but made the biggest splurge in the auction with the buy of South Africa’s Chris Morris. Liam Livingstone, Mustafizur Rahman and Chetan Sakariya are the other eye-grabbing buys.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Glenn Maxwell adds firepower to the batting while the bowling load is on the new Kiwi sensation, Kyle Jamieson. They have stocked up on some fine Indian talent too. Josh Philippe withdrew from the season, but they named the exciting Finn Allen as his replacement.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sunrisers Hyderabad made some questionable choices in the auction with the signing of Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and Kedar Jadhav. They lost Mitchell Marsh as he backed out, but have added England opener Jason Roy as his replacement.
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Which teams could benefit from neutral venues?
Benefit
Royal Challengers Bangalore
The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru has been Royal Challengers Bangalore’s home ground but it has given them several nightmares primarily due to a less than ideal bowling attack. As they aren’t playing at Chinnaswamy this time, RCB will be able to manage their bowlers better without overly worrying about conceding runs.
Challenge
Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings have a very tailor-made squad, suited for their home conditions in Chepauk. With them set to begin the season with matches in Mumbai, complete contrast to the Chepauk ground and how the team is set up, we could see CSK lose the edge they usually have when the IPL is in India. Nevertheless, Chennai do stand a chance to win the 2021’s IPL at big odds.
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Favourites
Mumbai Indians
Strong on the batting front and as good as they come with the bowling, Mumbai Indians are the undisputed favourites to win the title. They are the defending champions and have a chance to make it three titles in a row. With most bases covered and a strong Indian core and exciting new and overseas players, Mumbai once again appear to be the team to beat.
Dark horses
Kolkata Knight Riders
With a lot of power hitters in the side, Kolkata Knight Riders are once again dark horses to pull off something spectacular. They will still need some of their key players to be at their best and the bowling attack to step up considerably.
Betting odds
At 10CRIC we have prepared exclusive deals and betting odds for each IPL match. During the tournament, there will be new promotional campaigns and special bonuses to capitalise on, so be sure you visit our Promotions page daily.
You can start your IPL betting now! Check our outright betting odds for the eight franchises below:
Mumbai Indians – 3.60
Delhi Capitals – 6.00
Royal Challengers Bangalore – 6.75
Sunrisers Hyderabad – 7.50
Chennai Super Kings – 8.00
Kolkata Knight Riders – 8.50
Rajasthan Royals – 9.00
Punjab Kings – 11.00
*Odds may vary.
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