The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a competition where bold predictions generally come true. Someone who has been experiencing a prolonged slump in form has found his mojo back, and a cricketer who has been dreaming of playing for the Men-in-Blue could impress the selectors with his maiden stint in the tournament.
The IPL has given several superstars to Indian cricket in the last one and half decades since its inception in 2008.
Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja are some of the biggest names who found their initial footing in the cash-rich league before graduating to reach unparalleled heights in the national team.
In recent memory, Mohammed Siraj has been the one man who has shone with the ball for Team India after making a name for himself in the IPL.
It was his debut season for the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) that Siraj first impressed upon with his natural out-swingers and his ability to read the opposition batter's mind. Thereafter, there was no looking back as soon he became an all-format player for India.
In nutshell, IPL is a place where players who believe in taking up a challenge could find their dream coming true.
Here, we take a look at the three bold predictions for Indian cricketers participating in the current edition of the IPL.
IPL 2022 Predictions
1. Virat Kohli will end his two-and-half-year-long century drought in the IPL
Virat Kohli may have not reached the three-figure mark in any form of cricket since November 2019, but he could be on his way to ending his barren run in this IPL.
Though many experts have claimed that he needs to take a break from the sport to find his groove again, having already collected three first-ball ducks in IPL 2022, ClutchPoints predicts that Virat Kohli will return among the runs with a bag.
After all, he is a player who is courageous and will grab his chances if they are on offer.
While it is a reality that the 33-year-old has been poking at balls outside the off-stump and has even been found wanting by the spinners, there's a saying in cricket that “form is temporary and class is permanent,” and Kohli is class.
It could just be a matter of just one good inning for the Delhi-born cricket star as once he starts seeing the ball well in the middle, he's bound to make a big score.
Yet Kohli's chances of making a hundred in the IPL depend upon RCB's qualification scenario.
If the Karnataka-based franchise succeeds in making it through to the playoffs, Virat Kohli could just smash that elusive century in that game because he is a big match player.
2. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) announce their new permanent captain after bidding goodbye to the legendary MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni already relinquished the CSK captaincy once at the start of this edition after Ravindra Jadeja was appointed the skipper of the Chennai-based outfit.
But the southpaw left the leadership of the four-time IPL champions under mysterious circumstances in the middle of the tournament.
Subsequently, there were reports of a rift between Jadeja and the team management after CSK unfollowed the India all-rounder on social media as Jadeja withdrew from the competition citing a rib injury.
With Jadeja gone, Dhoni took back the mantle of guiding the team once again, but the ex-India captain will be 41 in July and can't lead the team forever.
According to Dhoni's former India colleague Virender Sehwag, CSK's opening batter Ruturaj Gaikwad has all the qualities of Captain Cool and is the perfect fit to take over the team's reins from him later this year.
Sehwag even backed him to stay CSK captain for a prolonged period, per NDTV Sports:
“He captains Maharashtra. He plays very quietly. It's like even if he scored a century, it won't show in his mannerisms. Even if he scores a 0, you will see the same demeanor. You can't tell from his face if he is happy about scoring a hundred or sad about getting out for a duck. He has control, he is calm. He has all the qualities needed to be a good captain,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
Perhaps the time is ripe for Dhoni to hand over the CSK captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad before signing off from the present edition.
3. RCB will finally secure their maiden IPL title under a new leader this year
Over the years, Virat Kohli was blamed for RCB's misfortune in the tournament as fans termed him an “unlucky skipper.”
RCB's supporters believed that while Kohli was one of the best batters around, he tends to run out of luck as a captain.
In some way, it turned out to be true as well as Kohli never managed to win the title for RCB despite coming perilously close to lifting the trophy in 2016 when he broke all records with the bat smashing nearly 1000 runs in the season.
In the past couple of years, RCB made its return to the playoffs, but never succeeded in going beyond that.
The 2022 edition, however, is different, considering Kohli is no longer the captain. Instead, it is the South African Faf du Plessis who is leading them, and boy he has led them well.
RCB currently occupy the fourth spot in the 10-team event and are looking pretty good to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament.
Moreover, unlike previous years when RCB relied heavily on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to get them going, this year it has been a team effort as their former skipper hasn't been firing in the competition.
In addition to that, RCB also have depth in their batting lineup, a crucial ingredient they missed previously.
Explosive Australian batter Glenn Maxwell and in-form Indian middle-order batsman Dinesh Karthik, who has already been declared this year's best finisher, bat in the lower middle-order.
Perhaps it is time for RCB to break the jinx.
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