Wednesday 5 April 2017 09:30, UK
The 2017 Indian Premier League season gets underway on Wednesday, exclusively live on Sky Sports.
There's no fewer than eight England internationals involved - including a certain record £1.6m signing in Ben Stokes - plus a whole host of other big-name players on show from the international stage.
So, as well as picking a team to support ahead of the tournament, here's a guide to each the eight teams set to battle it out for the title...
Sky Bet odds: 15/2
Can they win it?
Unlikely. Historically the Daredevils are the IPL's worst performing franchise, with 71 defeats over their 133 matches. They've made the play-offs only three times before, and two of those came in the league's first two seasons. They've made the knockout phase just once in the seven years since, while they've finished rock bottom on three occasions. But, last year's sixth-place finish did at least offer some slight encouragement.
Before Stokes, there was Chris Morris, and the million dollar man from the 2016 IPL auction certainly justified the price tag by finishing as Delhi's joint-leading wicket-taker, while also averaging 65 across his seven innings with the bat. His South African team-mates, Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy are ruled out for the 2017 season, which though a massive blow, may at least afford England's Sam Billings - who impressed in spurts last year - greater opportunities. Plus, the bowling department has been significantly strengthened with the arrivals of pacy pair Kagiso Rabada and Pat Cummins for 2017.
Captain: Zaheer Khan
Coach: Paddy Upton
Best performance: Third (2012)
2016 result: Sixth
Top run-scorer in 2016: Quinton de Kock (445)
Top wicket-taker in 2016: Chris Morris/Amit Mishra (13)
England star: Sam Billings - £35,500 (in 2016)
Overseas players: Corey Anderson (New Zealand), Carlos Brathwaite (West Indies), Pat Cummins (Australia), Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka), Chris Morris (SA), Kagiso Rabada (SA)
Sky Bet odds: 6/1
Can they win it?
A first-place finish in their maiden IPL season certainly represents a good return, though in truth Gujarat faded badly in 2016. Having been the early pace-setters, the Lions lost four of their final seven before falling short of the final in the playoffs.
But they will likely be in the mix again in 2017 thanks to the all-round talents of Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja, not to mention their absolutely stacked top-order, featuring Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Dwayne Smith and captain Suresh Raina. It's a selection headache that has only been made worse by the arrival of England's Jason Roy, while the signing of United Arab Emirates batsman Chirag Suri adds further intrigue.
Captain: Suresh Raina
Coach: Brad Hodge
Best performance: Third, after finishing first in points table (2016)
2016 result: As above
Top run-scorer in 2016: Suresh Raina (399)
Top wicket-taker in 2016: Dhawal Kulkarni (18)
England star: Jason Roy - £120,000
Overseas players: Dwayne Bravo (WI), James Faulkner (Aus), Aaron Finch (Aus), Brendon McCullum (NZ), Dwayne Smith (WI), Chirag Suri (United Arab Emirates), Andrew Tye (Aus)
Sky Bet odds: 10/1
Can they win it?
Following a hugely impressive runners-up finish in 2014, Kings XI have finished dead last in both seasons since. The big-hitting exploits of Glenn Maxwell and David Miller inspired that run to the final but neither has been up to much since, with last year's return particularly woeful - Maxwell's 179 runs at 19.88 only a slight improvement on Miller's 161 at 16.10.
Miller can at least claim the excuse that he was burdened by the captaincy… Well, at least for half the campaign, before being replaced by Murali Vijay. Three wins in the final eight games under his stewardship was not enough to keep him in the job though, Kings XI seemingly not learning their lesson from the Miller experiment as they now hand Maxwell the reins. A man who has never captained in his 338 games across all formats, he was not only picked ahead of Vijay but also England's impressive white-ball skipper, Eoin Morgan, who joins the team.
Captain: Glenn Maxwell
Coach: Virender Sehwag
Best performance: Runners-up (2014)
2016 result: Eighth
Top run-scorer in 2016: Murali Vijay (453)
Top wicket-taker in 2016: Sandeep Sharma (15)
England star: Eoin Morgan - £240,000
Overseas players: Hashim Amla (SA), Martin Guptill (NZ), Matt Henry (NZ), Shaun Marsh (Aus), Glenn Maxwell (Aus), David Miller (SA), Darren Sammy (WI), Marcus Stoinis (Aus)
Sky Bet odds: 7/1
Can they win it?
Four trips to the play-offs in the last six years, winning it twice, suggests they can. Their success over that spell can largely be attributed to having a very settled squad, the spine of which included veteran opening pair, Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa, maverick all-rounder Andre Russell, and fellow West Indian, wily leg-spinner Sunil Narine.
While three of them return, arguably the most important, Russell, does not, due to serving a one-year ban from cricket for a doping whereabouts rule violation. Chris Woakes comes in and is given the unenviable task of trying to fill those gigantic shoes, but for a team known for their consistency there is surely no one better than England's very own Mr Consistent. Plus, the bowling is further strengthened by the arrivals of Trent Boult and Nathan Coulter-Nile, while Russell's exit might also afford explosive Aussie batsman Chris Lynn more opportunities.
Captain: Gautam Gambhir
Coach: Jacques Kallis
Best performance: Winners (2012, 2014)
2016 result: Fourth
Top run-scorer in 2016: Gautam Gambhir (501)
Top wicket-taker in 2016: Andre Russell (15)
England star: Chris Woakes - £500,000
Overseas players: Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh), Trent Boult (NZ), Darren Bravo (WI), Nathan Coulter-Nile (Aus), Chris Lynn (Aus), Sunil Narine (WI), Rovman Powell (WI)
Sky Bet odds: 9/2
Can they win it?
Mumbai's title defence last year proved to be a bit of a damp squib, with as many wins as defeats from their 14 games seeing them finishing a forgettable fifth - their first finish outside the play-off places since 2009. Coach Ricky Ponting's two-year deal was not extended, and so in comes Mahela Jayawardene. But in truth, looking beyond some superstar coaches, the two-time IPL winners' squad doesn't quite have the same wow factor it once used to, especially with their work in the 2017 auction not quite as attention-grabbing as others.
Mitchell Johnson's return was arguably their standout bit of business, and though the left-arm quick's two wickets in just three games for Kings XI last year is hardly worth getting excited about, a stellar Big Bash with eventual winners Perth Scorchers - taking 3-3 in the semi-final and 1-13 in the final - points to him being back to his blistering best. There's also hope that Lasith Malinga - ruled out of the 2016 tournament through injury - will be back, having made his international return for Sri Lanka in February, while in the batting department England's Jos Buttler will benefit from a year's worth of experience under his belt.
Captain: Rohit Sharma
Coach: Mahela Jayawardena
Best performance: Winners (2013, 2015)
2016 result: Fifth
Top run-scorer in 2016: Rohit Sharma (489)
Top wicket-taker in 2016: Mitchell McClenaghan (17)
England star: Jos Buttler - £386,000 (in 2016)
Overseas players: Asela Gunaratne (SL), Mitchell Johnson (Aus), Mitchell McClenaghan (NZ), Lasith Malinga (SL), Kieron Pollard (WI), Nicholas Pooran (WI), Lendl Simmons (WI), Tim Southee (NZ)
Sky Bet odds: 13/2
Can they win it?
Last year's woeful performance would suggest not. The Supergiants finished second-bottom in their first IPL season, a disjointed campaign beset by poor form, injuries and big-name departures, including Kevin Pietersen, who isn't to return for 2017.
To try to rectify things, Pune have made two big moves. The first was to remove the beloved-across-India MS Dhoni as captain, replacing him with Australia's Steve Smith - his clashes with Virat Kohli in the recently concluded Test series likely only making him a more controversial choice (mark that first game against Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 16 in your diary, by the way). Helping Smith though, is that he has three further Australians in his overseas contingent to call upon, as well as England's Stokes - the £1.6m IPL-record overseas signing - the second of the team's wave-making moves.
Captain: Steve Smith
Coach: Stephen Fleming
Best performance: Seventh (2016)
2016 result: As above
Top run-scorer in 2016: Ajinkya Rahane (480)
Top wicket-taker in 2016: Adam Zampa (12)
England star: Ben Stokes - £1.6 million
Overseas players: Dan Christian (Aus), Faf du Plessis (SA), Lockie Ferguson (NZ), Usman Khawaja (Aus), Steve Smith (Aus), Adam Zampa (Aus)
Sky Bet odds: 4/1
Can they win it?
Surely, this is their year. We've heard that plenty of times before though… The question should not be can they win it, but with a team containing the big-hitting talent of Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Shane Watson, why haven't they won it?
Kohli in particular had a staggering 2016, hitting four hundreds and seven fifties in 16 innings, but it was only good enough to take his team to a third runners-up finish. The simple answer to the above question is the bowling. Too often it has been overlooked due to the scoring of the batsmen. But England left-arm speedster Tymal Mills arrives this year for a cool £1.4m, while leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Watson - 21 and 20 wickets respectively - stepped up with the ball in 2016, to give credit to the claims that this time it really is their year.
Captain: Virat Kohli
Coach: Daniel Vettori
Best performance: Runners-up (2009, 2011, 2016)
2016 result: Runners-up
Top run-scorer in 2016: Virat Kohli (973)
Top wicket-taker in 2016: Yuzvendra Chahal (21)
England star: Tymal Mills - £1.4 million
Overseas players: Samuel Badree (WI), AB de Villiers (SA), Chris Gayle (WI), Travis Head (Aus), Adam Milne (NZ), Tabraiz Shamsi (SA), Billy Stanlake (Aus), Shane Watson (Aus)
Sky Bet odds: 11/2
Can they win it?
Of course they can, they're the reigning champs, and their dynamic Australian duo of Tom Moody and David Warner return to lead the team in the defence of their title. Warner, given the captaincy by his countryman in 2015, finished as the IPL top run-scorer that year, and were it not for Kohli's remarkable run-scoring feats in 2016, his 848 would once again have been good enough for top spot.
But it was arguably Sunrisers' stellar bowling attack that took them to the title - Bhuvneshwar Kumar's 23 wickets the most in the IPL, while 2016 World T20 standout, Bangladeshi left-armer Mustafizur Rahman continued his fine form with 17 scalps. The seam department has been further strengthened with the addition of England's Chris Jordan, while their one weakness - the spin department - has also been addressed with the bold additions of 45-year-old Pravin Tambe and Afghanistan teenager Rashid Khan.
Captain: David Warner
Coach: Tom Moody
Best performance: Winners (2016)
2016 result: As above
Top run-scorer in 2016: David Warner (848)
Top wicket-taker in 2016: Bhuvneshwar Kumar (23)
England star: Chris Jordan - £60,000
Overseas players: Ben Cutting (Aus), Moises Henriques (Aus), Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Ben Laughlin (Aus), Mohammad Nabi (Afg), Mustafizur Rahman (Ban), David Warner (Aus), Kane Williamson (NZ)
Watch the opening game of the 2017 IPL between reigning champions Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore, live on Sky Sports 2 and Mix from 3pm on Wednesday, April 5.
Sky customers can now upgrade to Sky Sports and get 12 months for just £18 per month. Upgrade now!
