IPL 2020 Predictions for Week 1

IPL 2020 Predictions for Week 1: The much-awaited cricket carnival is all set to begin from the 19^th of September. Cricket fans all around the world have been waiting for the Indian Premier League for the past 6 months. The IPL Governing Council released the schedule a few days back, and it suggests that the very first week of the tournament will host some of the old age rivalries of the tournament. The lucrative league will begin with the blockbuster clash of arch-rivals Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in Abu Dhabi.

To add to that, this edition of the tournament is entirely different from the previous seasons. No crowds, no post-match presentations, no after-match parties, and most importantly no home advantage. Yes, all the matches will be played in 3 iconic venues of the UAE, namely Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah. It means that no team can take advantage of its home conditions and hence this year’s tournament promises to be the most evenly contested IPL ever.

First week IPL Predictions 2020

To start the proceedings, many exciting matches are lined-up for the first week, but the absence of prominent England and Australian white-ball players owing to national duty may affect the results of most matches as most teams are heavily reliant on these foreign stars. Here we look at the IPL 2020 predictions for the exciting first week.

Match 1: MI vs CSK, Abu Dhabi- 19^th September

The tournament will kick start with the El-Clasico of the IPL. The clash between the arch-rivals MI and CSK. Both these teams are less affected by the absence of English and Aussie players and hence a nail-biting start to the tournament is expected. Even though historically Chennai has had the upper hand over Mumbai in the opening matches of the IPL, the current strength of the Mumbai lineup and the absence of Suresh Raina are expected to shift the advantage in favour of the men in blue. It is also to be noted that Mumbai knows the conditions well as they had one month of preparation camp in Abu Dhabi, whereas CSK who are stationed at Dubai will be playing at Abu Dhabi for the very first time. Ideally, the Mumbai Indians are expected to win the match. But you never know, with MS Dhoni leading the yellow brigade even the impossible may seem possible.

Expected Playing XI:

CSK- Shane Watson, Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir

MI- Rohit Sharma(c), Quinton De Kock (wk), Surya Kumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah

Head to Head (overall)

• Matches Played- 30
• MI – 18
• CSK- 12

Head to Head (in UAE)

• Matches Played- 1
• MI – 0
• CSK – 1

MI vs CSK IPL 2020 stats, batting stats, bowling stats, player battles

Match 2: DC vs KXIP, Dubai- 20^th September

The two teams who have had the least success in the history of the tournament will face off against each other in the second match of IPL 2020. The Delhi Capitals will take on Kings XI Punjab in Dubai on the 20^th of September. Interestingly both the teams have two of India’s brightest young batsmen as their captain. KL Rahul will be leading an IPL franchise for the first time, whereas Shreyas Iyer will be keen to carry forward the success of Delhi from last year. Delhi with its strong Indian core has a slight advantage over the Kings, although the Kings have made significant improvements to their squad. Dubai much like Abu Dhabi is a spin-friendly wicket and hence Delhi’s strong plethora of spinners may find success bowling there.

Expected Playing XI:

DC- Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer(c), Shimron Hetmyer, Rishab Pant(wk), Keemo Paul, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Sandeep Lamichane, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada

KXIP- KL Rahul(c), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, James Neesham, Krishnappa Gautam, Ravi Bishnoi, Sheldon Cottrell, Mohammad Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Head to Head (Overall)

• Played- 24
• DC – 10
• KXIP – 14

Head to head (UAE)

• Played – 0

DC vs KXIP IPL 2020 stats, batting stats, bowling stats, player battles

Match 3: RCB vs SRH, Dubai- 21^st September

Indian captain Virat Kohli will be in action after a long break of 6 months as Royal Challengers Bangalore takes on Sunrisers Hyderabad for the third match of the tournament on 21^st September. The city of Dubai will host both teams for the second consecutive match. Unlike the previous two matches, the absence of Aussie and England players are expected to have a serious impact on the outcome of this match. SRH will be without the services of their captain David Warner and star opener Jonny Bairstow. This will be a huge blow for the team from Hyderabad, as these two have been their pillar of strength in the last season. The duo almost scored more than half of the team runs in the last year. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson will be leading SRH in the absence of Warner. On the positive note, with the addition of young exciting batsmen like Abdul Samad, Priyam Garg, and Virat Singh to the lineup SRH seems to have covered up for their weak Indian middle-order from last year.

RCB on the other hand will miss the services of Australian captain Aaron Finch and English all-rounder Moeen Ali. But they are less affected compared to SRH and hence Virat Kohli and co. are expected to start the tournament on a winning note.

Expected Playing XI:

RCB- Parthiv Patel(wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (c), AB De Villiers, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Washington Sundar, Dale Steyn, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini

SRH- Shreevats Goswami (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Manish Pandey, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Fabian Allen, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma

Head to Head (overall)

• Matches Played- 15
• RCB – 06
• SRH- 08
• No Result- 1

Head to Head (in UAE)

• Matches Played- 0

RCB vs SRH IPL 2020 stats, batting stats, bowling stats, player battles

Match 4: RR vs CSK, Sharjah- 22^nd September

The IPL will move from Dubai to Sharjah on 22^nd September as the finalists of the inaugural edition of the tournament, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings will lock horn with each other. RR will start its 2020 campaign without the services of their premier players. Captain Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, and Tom Curran will miss the match as they will have to be in mandatory quarantine after getting back from the UK. Star all-rounder Ben Stokes is also expected to miss the match as he is reported to join the league a few weeks after its commencement owing to personal reasons. In that case, they will be forced to take the field with just 3 overseas players under the captaincy of Jaydev Unadkat. Hence they are at a clear disadvantage over CSK who will be taking the field after one match practice against MI, that too with a full-strength squad.

Expected Playing XI:

CSK- Shane Watson, Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir

RR- Yashaswi Jaiswal, Robin Uthappa, Sanju Samson (wk), Manan Vohra, David Miller, Riyan Parag, Mahipal Lomror, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat (c), Varun Aaron, Oshane Thomas

Head to Head (overall)

• Matches Played- 22
• RR – 08
• CSK- 14

Head to Head (in UAE)

• Matches Played- 1
• RR – 0
• CSK – 1

CSK vs RR IPL 2020 stats, batting stats, bowling stats, player battles

Match 5: KKR vs MI, Sharjah- 23^rd September

Both these teams had their Pre-IPL preparation camp set-up in Abu Dhabi and it will be interesting to see these two teams locking horns in the city, where they have spent their last one month in. That being said Mumbai Indians historically has had an edge over the Knight Riders whenever they have faced in the past, and this is more or less expected to stay the same as most of KKR’s new overseas recruits including the likes of Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins, and Tom Banton will be forced to stay outside of the eleven due to strict quarantine measures in the country. Without Pat Cummins, KKR’s weak pace bowling department may get exposed against a much stronger Mumbai batting line-up.

Expected Playing XI:

KKR- Sunil Narine, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (c&wk), Andre Russell, Chris Green, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Lockie Ferguson, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadhav

MI- Rohit Sharma(c), Quinton De Kock (wk), Surya Kumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah

Head to Head (overall)

• Matches Played- 25
• KKR – 06
• MI- 19

Head to Head (in UAE)

• Matches Played- 1
• KKR – 1
• MI – 0

KKR vs MI IPL 2020 stats, batting stats, bowling stats, player battles

Match 6: KXIP vs RCB, Dubai- 24^th September

The teams will get strengthened from 24^th onwards, as the mandatory quarantine period of England and Australia players who were part of the limited-overs series in the UK will come to an end by that date. The first match with their presence will be between RCB and KXIP. In that case, Australian captain Aaron Finch may find a place in RCB playing XI. KXIP will also get strengthened by the presence of their star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and death over specialist Chris Jordan. Maxwell was the star of the initial part of the 2014 edition of the IPL, which was held in the UAE. He averages above 60 in the UAE, and his presence is expected to boost the KXIP middle order. That being said, with the arrival of their complete overseas players, Punjab seems like a team that has all their bases covered. And hence they are expected to outshine the Challengers unless Virat or ABD produces some outstanding innings.

Expected Playing XI:

RCB- Aaron Finch, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (c), AB De Villiers (wk), Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Dale Steyn, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini

KXIP- KL Rahul(c), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, Glenn Maxwell, Mandeep Singh,  Krishnappa Gautam, Chris Jordan, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammad Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Head to Head (overall)

• Matches Played- 24
• RCB – 12
• KXIP- 12

Head to Head (in UAE)

• Matches Played- 1
• RCB – 0
• KXIP- 1

RCB vs KXIP IPL 2020 stats, batting stats, bowling stats, player battles

Match 7: CSK vs DC, Dubai- 25^th September

Two teams with the most potent spin attack, CSK and DC will face off against each other in the dry pitch of Dubai on 25^th September. This will be CSK’s third match in a single week, whereas Delhi will be taking the field for the second time in a week. The experience of having had their preparation camps in Dubai will help CSK even though DC will be coming off a one-match experience of playing at the same venue. Having said that, DC with its strong Indian core stands a better chance to outshine CSK in the last match of the week. After the mandatory quarantine, DC will be able to utilize the services of Aussie all-rounder Marcus Stoinis. For CSK, young Sam Curran will be available for selection, but the chances of him making into the playing eleven seem very less.

Expected Playing XI:

CSK- Shane Watson, Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c&wk), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir

DC- Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer(c), Shimron Hetmyer, Rishab Pant(wk), Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Sandeep Lamichane, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada

Head to Head (overall)

• Matches Played- 21
• DC – 05
• CSK- 16

Head to Head (in UAE)

• Matches Played- 1
• DC – 0
• CSK – 1

DC vs CSK IPL 2020 stats, batting stats, bowling stats, player battles

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