IPL Teams and their T20I equivalents

There’s a realm of T20 cricket that is getting laid from July and possibly has all the eminent T20 tournaments under its five-month affair. The inaugural edition of the Hundred kicks starts the carnival which eventually culminates itself with the 7th edition of the World T20. In between, there’s also a CPL and the second half of the IPL 2021.

It’s not often that both the IPL and the T20 World Cup have been played back-to-back, eventually making it an extravagant arrangement both for the fans and for the broadcasters. Hence, to cherish the two mega offerings in a slightly different way, here’s a fun comparison of the IPL teams and their T20I equivalents.

8. Kolkata Knight Riders – South Africa

Unfortunately much like South African cricket, even the KKR side has been on a dire shrink. The franchise, since the omission of the former skipper Gautam Gambhir, has experienced a topsy-turvy ride, especially with only a single playoffs spot in the last three years. Further, much like the South African team, even the KKR franchise has faced some leadership issues and is yet due to gain some traction.

Also, with both the teams often getting hailed to possess some utterly talented youngsters like Aiden Markram and Shubman Gill, both of them are vigorously in due to produce towering scores. Of late, even skipper Eoin Morgan had a grim IPL 2021, much similar to the South African captain’s current T20I form.

Overall, both the teams regularly struggle to come up with some clinical wins merely because they fail to click collectively. Hence, with regards to South African cricket, the KKR franchise eventually forms a significant equivalence with the Proteas.

7. Rajasthan Royals – West Indies

Although the RR team’s equivalence with the two times T20 World Cup champions might sound bizarre, in reality, there’s a lot of relevance. First of all, before each edition of the IPL, the RR franchise faces a lot of uncertainty when it comes to the availability of its four England stalwarts which is something very reminiscent of what West Indies cricket faces from its T20 greats in bilateral cricket.

Further, the availability of Ben Stokes is always a big wariness much like the appearance of Andre Russell for West Indies. Also, apart from possessing some of the shortest format’s most eminent names, both West Indies, barring their T20 World Cup triumphs, and RR, have performed grimly. Especially, the RR team last qualified into the playoffs in IPL 2018 and even the WI team hasn’t been on a winning spree in T20I despite the presence of their legendary names.

Further, both the teams also receive strong flak for constantly playing some reckless cricket and their batters often getting overhasty. All in all, much like the RR team, even WI’s T20 side has routinely dwelled at the bottom of the T20I rankings, thus forming a lot of equivalence with the Royals.

6. Sunrisers Hyderabad – New Zealand

Often in the IPL, the orange army is the least discussed team when it comes to anticipating the top four teams for the playoffs. Neither the team is known to indulge in some ritzy buys nor the franchise is over-dependent on overseas propositions. Yet the SRH franchise has constantly qualified into the playoffs since IPL 2016.

Now such valiant spirits of constantly punching above their weight often remind of the New Zealand team in ICC tournaments who similarly are also least talked about during the big occasions. Also, both the teams are the grandmasters when it comes to pulling a rabbit out of the hat as the majority of the time they do excel by bringing the best out of the least.

Further, even in terms of their team combinations, both SRH and NZ are equally well reliant on all of their players rather than being dependent on a single player. Overall, the pure similarity between the two teams can also be highly felt merely because of Kane Williamson’s tenacious presence in both the dugouts.

5. Royal Challengers Bangalore – Pakistan

During the initial years of the IPL, the RCB franchise used to be a top-notch side that regularly used to make it into the playoffs. From the year 2009 to 2011, they were twice the runners-up along with finishing once at the third position. Unfortunately, from the 2012 season onwards, the franchise underwent a decline and so far has only qualified into the playoffs on three more occasions. Hence, their IPL journey gets very much similar to what the Pakistan team has endured in their T20 playing days.

Even the Pakistan team had consecutively qualified into the first three ICC World T20 knockouts and had won the glory in 2009. However, after their semi-final defeat against Australia in the 2010 World T20, the nation has barely been competent to once again dwell themselves into the knockouts. Also, both these teams are highly unpredictable as they can either beat any side on any given day or can even lose against much subservient side. In fact, such volatile gameplay has often made both teams experience some impregnable highs and some dreadful lows in a single season or at an ICC tournament.

Further, at present, both Babar Azam and Virat Kohli are also the chief pillars of their respective teams along with performing very similar roles. And to even perhaps highlight a further commonness, both the RCB and the Pakistan side majorly brim themselves with constant chops and changes. Hence, both these iffy teams do form a solid equivalence with each other.

4. Punjab Kings – Bangladesh

The PBKS team has always been an IPL side that exhibits oodles of young Indian talent in almost every season of the tournament. Especially players like Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh in recent times have all shown their glimpses of flair but unfortunately are yet to transform themselves as the eminent players of the side. Now such a deadlock is also noticeable in the Bangladesh team as overall apart from their vastly experienced greats, the side, in general, is yet to produce some new stalwarts and compete consistently.

Further, both teams while getting amalgamated with their elite players do become very promising sides but in reality, have often depleted themselves from winning routinely. Rather often, they find themselves on a winning spree or both the teams will inevitably undergo a long losing streak. Another trait where both these teams resemble is their knack of being the party spoilers or giving the top teams some big upsets. While the Bangladesh team has often been in this penchant in the ICC tournaments, the PBKS side had also given some dreadful upsets to other superior teams in IPL 2020.

Besides all this, the PBKS side, much like Bangladesh, has also a fairly limited number of genuine match winners. Overall, with both the teams also often getting woeful with their pace attacks, it is very equivalent to see them at par with each other.

3. Delhi Capitals – Australia

In recent times, the DC team has been one of the top IPL teams but unfortunately, they are yet to lift their maiden glory. Much like Australia, the team is well equipped with some strong individual match winners along with facing some complexities with its overall team balance. Specifically, in the batting order, players like Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant have familiar roles to what David Warner and Glenn Maxwell perform for Australia along with enduring a conundrum where both the teams grapple with their overall middle-order combination.

Even in terms of bowling, both the teams prefer having a robust pace attack, as both the duo of Rabada, Nortje for DC and Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc for Australia have been prolific match winners. Also, with Ricky Ponting being the DC’s head coach, again both the teams have a similarity where the head coaches are the ones who run the entire show. Another trait, where there’s a strong resemblance is that the DC franchise just like the Australian team in T20 bilateral often outshines its opponents in group stages, but has failed to win a T20 title like Australia.

Hence, with being reliant on their elite stars as well as constantly being in the top reckoning, the equivalence between both the T20 sides becomes substantial.

2. Chennai Super Kings – India

Prior to the 2021 IPL, CSK under MS Dhoni has always been an IPL side that likes to play T20 cricket with a traditional approach. Majorly because of the Chepauk conditions, their overall batting order has predominantly been stable and likes to accelerate and play some explosive cricket in the latter half of the innings.

That’s why the likes of Faf Du Plessis or even Michael Hussey have always been their heavy run-scorers who have majorly batted deep. Now such an orthodox batting template is also evident in the Indian team where the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli also play reliably and are the bulk scorers rather than playing some attacking cricket from the start. Although at present. both the teams are exploring the thrilling batting templates, the conventional approach has always been their biggest hallmark of success.

Apart from their similar style of batting, both the Indian team and the CSK franchise are well known to constantly qualify into the playoffs stages or the knockouts of the ICC tournaments and rather have a relative success of lifting the glories. No doubt a team like CSK has the second most number of IPL titles but the yellow army from its record 11 playoffs qualifications has only won thrice. In fact, after the 2011 IPL, CSK has only won once in 2018 which gets very reminiscent of what team India has been presently facing in the ICC events.

Hence, with both teams undoubtedly being the flag-bearers in their respective fields along with sharing some common conundrums, both form an outright relevance with each other.

1. Mumbai Indians – England

There’s actually a lot of resemblance between the two mega-giant sides. Both of them are sovereigns in their respective affairs and are prominently known to play some ruthless brand of cricket. Especially if we compare both the team’s batting lineup then there’s an expanse of match-winners who on any given day can jolt most bowling attacks across all conditions. Also, just like how the MI team has the best and the most versatile batting lineup in the IPL, England’s T20I team has some brimming resources to make them an eminent batting powerhouse.

Even in terms of the team combination and selection, there’s reliability amongst both teams as the majority of their players meritoriously select themselves in the playing XI. Even the captains of the MI franchise and the England team are at present the two best tacticians who are bossing the game with their serene and composed demeanour.

While the bowling lineup of both the teams might significantly vary, both Rohit Sharma and Eoin Morgan wholeheartedly depend a lot upon their ace pacers – Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer. Even their penchant for constantly playing with a chief leg-spinner is highly apparent as both Adil Rashid and Rahul Chahar have been bagging a profusion of wickets.

Also, even in terms of some limitations, both teams sometimes grapple on sluggish wickets as most of their batters prefer playing on pitches that seamlessly allow through-the-line hitting. Further, the MI team also evens out with the English team in terms of the overall fielding standards as the likes of Pollard, Hardik Pandya are as athletic as the likes of Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow. Hence, in most aspects both the teams rigorously pan out a lot of equivalence in terms of their overall appearance.