5 Bold IPL 2020 Predictions ahead of the showpiece event

The year 2020 just gets better and all the mishaps in this year will fade away as the gala event in the Indian Premier League begins on September 19th. The event that the whole cricketing world is waiting for. One of the very few good things that will happen in this year and the excitement amongst the fans is infectious that will only increase and spread the happiness across the country to put a smile in the face of the people.

It’s been 12 years since the flagship event kicked off and with each passing year, the fans’ enthusiasm met an upward curve that demonstrates the league’s sheer efficiency. It’s pretty normal that when you feed the same product to people over 12 years, they are bound to get an indifference but its not the case with IPL. Just goes on to show how unpredictable this league has been.

IPL 2020 Predictions

The fans are treated with some mind-boggling performances and certainly, this year won’t be any different. Here, let me try to predict 5 interesting things that might happen in IPL 2020.

Rohit Sharma to don orange cap
The 4-time IPL winning captain Rohit Sharma has not captured the orange cap even for once in his 12 years of IPL career. Yes, that can be shocking to some considering the fact that he is one of the best opening batsmen in white-ball cricket going around in the world.

Rohit Sharma’s highest tally in a season was in the 2013 edition of IPL where he scored 538 runs at an average of 38. As a matter of fact, Rohit Sharma has crossed the 500 run barrier for only once which can be another shocking information to some. He was in ordinary form going into the 2019 edition of the World Cup but stunned everyone with 5 centuries from nowhere in the competition and ended up as the leading run-getter of the tournament. He was also awarded ICC ODI cricketer of the year for 2019. Such is the class of that man.
He is at a stage of his career where form doesn’t really matter to him as he can turn the tables on any given day. He scored just 2 half-centuries in the previous season and finished the season with 405 runs at a middling average of 28.92. Look out for a certain dangerous Rohit Sharma this season around and don’t be surprised if he goes onto win the prestigious orange cap.

RCB to become bowling powerhouse
Through the course of these 12 years of IPL, each and every cricket fan would relate one of the powerful teams in IPL, RCB with monstrous hitters of the cricket ball. They have had Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Eoin Morgan, Jesse Ryder, Kevin Pietersen but one thing that kept eluding from them was a well-rounded bowling attack. This year, they have one such bowling unit that is certainly their best in the last so many seasons.

The likes of Dale Steyn, Chris Morris, Navdeep Saini, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Washington Sundar are all seasoned campaigners and RCB have arguably the best bowling unit besides Mumbai Indians. The variety in that attack is something that is worth appreciating. Also taking into note the venues of this year’s IPL, they have assembled a near-perfect bowling unit to say the least. Watch out for a new and a versatile RCB team that is dangerous not only with the bat but also with the ball.

New finishers to emerge
One of the most important aspects of a T20 team is to have a quality lower middle order. In short, pace power-hitters. The likes of Andre Russell, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, AB de Villiers, Kieron Pollard and Mohammad Nabi (to some extent) are all top-tier finishers. If you go around and take a look at the other finishers apart from the aforementioned ones, there are hardly any seasoned campaigners.

Having said that, new stars will emerge when there is a real need and this season might just witness some quality finishers emerging through the ranks. The likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Abdul Samad, Riyan Parag, Fabian Allen, Harshal Patel and Mahipal Lomror have enough potential in them to become dangerous and reputed hitters towards the fag end of the innings. It will do a world of good to Indian cricket team as well if some of the aforementioned fringe Indian hitters come good. One thing that everyone needs to see is the skill set they possess and the way they execute those. To expect consistency from them doesn’t augur well as consistency comes with age and experience. Watch out for the next Andre Russell or a certain MS Dhoni lite in this season.

Two West Indies stars to have a breakout IPL
There is no franchise cricket in the world at the moment that goes without the presence of Caribbean superstars. Two of those West Indians who also have the ability to become 2 of the greatest white-ball cricketers for their country might have their breakout season in the 2020 edition of IPL. Yes, those 2 superstars are Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran. Both the southpaws are mad hitters of the cricket ball and both love to bash the spinners with disdain. With the conditions in UAE traditionally on the slower side, both these middle-order batsmen should have a crazy season this time around. Shimron Hemyer plays for Delhi Capitals while Nicholas Pooran plays for Kings XI Punjab. These two play for the same team in CPL and both showed good form in the ongoing season as well.

These two extremely talented cricketers didn’t get right opportunities last time around but with a new season and the way they have progressed in the last year or so, this season should be the turnaround season for both these cricketers. There is an equally potent Sherfane Rutherford but that’s for another day.

Ravi Bishnoi to win IPL Emerging Player award
The 20-year-old leg-break bowler from Rajasthan impressed everyone with his astounding skills in the recently concluded U19 world cup earlier this year where India finished as the runners up of the tournament. He finished the tournament with 17 wickets at an average of 10.74 after having bowled 52 overs in the tourney. He was pretty economical as well as he conceded just 3.48 runs per over. His strike rate was exceptional as well as he struck every 18.3 balls.

These extraordinary returns helped him earn an IPL contract and what better team he could have asked apart from Kings XI Punjab that has the Anil Kumble as the head coach. The fact that Anil Kumble himself picked the youngster goes on to tell how special this kid is.
Though U19 World Cup and IPL are two completely different ball games, the skill set he possesses and the way he executed his plans in what little he has played, he seems to be the one for the future. And he will have all the time in the world to pick the brains of the legend himself in Anil Kumble which will only make him a wiser bowler. He has all the talent and ability to win the emerging player award provided he gets a consistent run in the playing XI. What are your bold predictions for the 2020 Indian Premier League?

[show_quiz cat_id=’3′]

Click for IPL 2020 stats: batting stats, bowling stats, player battles

Stay tuned for today IPL match prediction, IPL prediction, today IPL prediction, IPL prediction 2020, who won today’s IPL match, who will win today IPL match