IPL 2022: Ranking all the teams based on their power hitters

IPL 2022 is knocking on the doors and the excitement is building up rapidly. The mega event is about to start and preparations have started. The excitement will get doubled as two new teams are set to be introduced for the first time in the league. Every cricket fan has already marked the date of 26th of March to witness the action.

The whole season will be played in Maharashtra this time as the COVID-19 pandemic is still not over. Four stadiums are finalized for the season. All of the 10 franchises have their squads and all of them are looking great. The auction was very fruitful for all the teams as they have found the balance. The stage is set.

The Indian Premier League has seen many high-scoring games with tons of maximums. T20 has been the game of the big hitters, let it be Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, or MS Dhoni. All of these superstars are known as the best hitters of the cricket ball. This season will also witness the power hitters smashing the cricket balls out of the park for their respective teams.

We have tried to rank all the 10 IPL franchises based on their power hitters:

10. Lucknow Super Giants

The Lucknow Super Giants are ready to hustle in their first IPL season. The KL Rahul-led team was amongst the best franchises after the auction. It will not be wrong to say that the Lucknow-based franchise has the best squad for the season. They have successfully assembled an amazing squad with some great match-winners.

Lucknow have some decent power hitters in the form of Marcus Stoinis and Jason Holder. They also have handy strikers like Deepak Hooda and Krunal Pandya. Stoinis has been an impactful player in the IPL for the Delhi Capitals. He was brilliant while playing for them and has scored 914 runs in 56 IPL games with a brilliant strike rate of 135.81.

The Caribbean all-rounder Jason Holder is also a great striker of the cricket ball. He has the ability to hit big sixes effortlessly. Just like other West Indians, Jason also has great numbers in the shortest format of the game. The elder Pandya brother had some amazing years with the Mumbai Indians. He has a strike rate of 138.55 in IPL.

9. Royal Challengers Bangalore

If AB de Villiers would not have retired then RCB would have been quite up in this list. Nevertheless, they still have the services of the big show Glenn Maxwell. The Royal Challengers Bangalore are in a rebuilding phase now. The sudden retirement of De Villers and the surprising decision of Virat Kohli stepping down as skipper has changed the scenarios a bit.

Glenn Maxwell had a fabulous season playing for RCB in 2021 and the franchise will want the same sort of performances from him. Maxwell has made the identity of a big hitter in the cricket world. He has the ability to score rapidly with his unorthodox shots. He has an amazingly brilliant strike rate of 151.84 in IPL after playing 97 games.

This year, RCB have purchased another great finisher in the form of Dinesh Karthik. Karthik has been one of the most successful lower-order batters in the history of IPL. He can be the man who can score quickfire runs if needed. The new RCB skipper Faf du Plessis is a good power hitter as well. We also cannot forget Virat Kohli, he is a master in all formats of cricket.

8. Delhi Capitals

The Delhi Capitals’ story has been very different after the re-branding of the franchise. Delhi always had great players but somehow, their performances were not that great. But now, things have changed and Delhi-based franchises are executing great performances. Shreyas Iyer did a great job while captaining the franchise before handing it over to Rishabh Pant who also has been fabulous.

The captain of the franchise is itself a great power hitter. In his short career, Rishabh has already made a name for himself. He is counted among the most threatening batters in the league. The southpaw has shown how great he is while hitting the ball for a six. The franchise would want Rishabh to be in his top form in the tournament.

Delhi have purchased the Australian star David Warner for the 2022 season. He is the most successful overseas batter in the history of IPL with three orange caps. David is known for smashing the bowlers since the start of the innings. DC will also have the services of a great hitter in the form of Rovman Powell who has been in great form in the last few months.

7. Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad had a decent auction and they have a great-looking squad for the season. There were some surprising decisions taken by the franchise ahead of the season. They have decided to let David Warner and Rashid Khan go which was very unexpected. Nevertheless, SRH have managed to get a solid squad.

The Hyderabad-based franchise has spent a lot of money on the Caribbean superstar Nicholas Pooran. Pooran is in great touch for the last few months. He is scoring runs consistently and is in the form of his life. Nicholas can be the biggest game-changer for the franchise in 2022. He can dominate any bowling attack in the world.

The franchise showed faith in the young bloke from Kashmir Abdul Samad. We have seen Samad smashing the top bowlers in world cricket for big sixes. Let it be Rabada, Bumrah, or Cummins, the young lad has smashed all of them. SRH have also spent a good amount of money on Romario Shephard who himself is a reliable striker.

6. Chennai Super Kings

One of the most successful IPL franchises, Chennai Super Kings are set to set the 2022 season of IPL on fire. The Ravindra Jadeja-led franchise is again one of the favorites to win the title. They have picked some solid players at the mega auction.  CSK will start their campaign on the 26th of March against KKR.

The word “FINISHER” in cricket was redefined by a wicket-keeper batter from Ranchi. MS Dhoni has been finishing games in the format since the time it was introduced. No player in the world has more experience than him. He might be getting old but he is still as good as any young player. We will again see him in yellow.

Alongside MS Dhoni, CSK have another great batter at the death overs in the form of Ravindra Jadeja who has evolved as a batter in the last few years and is now a dependable batter to trust on. We have seen him playing some great knocks both for India and the Chennai Super Kings. Jaddu will be the player to watch out for from CSK in 2022.

5. Gujarat Titans

The Ahmedabad-based Gujarat Titans have some great T20 players be it Rashid Khan, Hardik Pandya, or David Miller. They have a sound group of amazing players. They have a good bowling lineup too with the likes of Mohammed Shami and Lockie Ferguson. The Titans are looking good and will be a great challenge for the other teams.

The captain of the Gujarat Titans Hardik Pandya has been hitting sixes consistently in IPL. He has played some great innings for Mumbai Indians. He was a prominent player for them. Now, the responsibilities on his shoulders will be much more. He will be seen hustling for the wind for the franchise from his home state.

Alongside Hardik Pandya, they also have a good finishing option in the form of David Miller. Miller is a strong muscled guy who can hit big sixes for fun. They also have Rahul Tewatia with them who is a handy finisher.

4. Punjab Kings

Punjab Kings have a new squad for 2022 which is quite different from the players they had in 2021. They have named Mayank Agarwal as their new skipper who is a great T20 player as well. They have purchased some quality players like Shikhar Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Jonny Bairstow, and Kagiso Rabada.

Punjab Kings have the six-hitting machine in Liam Livingstone for 2022. He is known for hitting big sixes and plays almost every T20 league in the world. He has a lot of experience playing the format. He is flexible with the batting order and will be a crucial player for the franchise. Hopefully, we will see some great hits from his bat in the 2022 IPL season.

PBKS has also showed faith in Shahrukh Khan who had played some seasons for the franchise. He has played some great knocks for Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket and will come to IPL with great form with him. He can be the MVP for the Mohali-based franchise. PBKS also have another great hitter in the form of Jonny Bairstow.

3. Mumbai Indians

The most successful IPL franchise has again assembled a great squad for 2022. MI retained Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Kieron Pollard, and Suryakumar Yadav ahead of the auction. Mumbai have always been a franchise that shows faith in their core. They did the same thing at the 2022 IPL mega auction too.

Kieron Pollard has been a true servant of the Mumbai-based franchise. He has played numerous great knocks for the franchise over the years. It will not be wrong to say that Kieron is the most important player for Mumbai Indians. He had the company of the Pandya brothers while batting at the death overs but he will be seen doing the same thing with some new guys this time.

MI spent INR 15.25 crore on the pocket-sized dynamo Ishan Kishan. Ishan is known for playing big shots. We have seen him smashing the greatest bowlers in the world for maximums. He is getting better day by day and is now a well-established batter. In 2022 auction, MI purchased Tim David and Daniel Sams who have made names for themselves in franchise cricket with their big hitting.

2. Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders looked very good at the mega auction. They went to the event with a clear strategy and they were very clear with the names they wanted. They purchased Shreyas Iyer who will lead the side in 2022 as well. Shreyas is a great guy to have in the middle-order. He has all the gears that a T20 batter should have.

Let’s ask ourselves a question, Who is the best power-hitter in IPL in the last few seasons? We all end up with one name, Andre Russell. The big man picking the bat with the long handle has given us a lot of memories to remember. Russell is a game-changer in the shortest format and the power that he has is very rare. Russell will again be seen in the Purple and Gold for KKR.

KKR have signed the Australian opener Aaron Finch as the replacement of Alex Hales who has decided to skip the tournament. Aaron is one of the most successful batters in the T20 format. On his day, he can damage any bowling attack of the world. Hopefully, Finch will give KKR a lot of good memories from the season.

1. Rajasthan Royals

2022 can be the breakthrough season for the Rajasthan Royals as they are looking very solid on paper. RR have a good mixture of match-winners and young talents. They have a solid top-order with a great bowling lineup as well. Some of the best buys of RR from the auction were Shimron Hetmyer, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Devdutt Padikkal.

RR have purchased the future of West Indian cricket Shimron Hetmyer. He is a great T20 player and a strong guy who can dominate the bowlers. He has been very impressive since his initial days. Hetmyer has a good record in T20 cricket. He has a strike rate of 151.17 in IPL. He is a serious talent to bank on.

The English wicket-keeper Jos Buttler is the MVP for the Rajasthan Royals. Whether, it is opening the innings, batting in the middle-order, or finishing the innings, Buttler can do anything. Buttler has played many amazing knocks for the Jaipur-based franchise in IPL. He has scored 1968 runs in IPL off 65 games with a strike rate of 150.0.