IPL 2020: 3 Things to Expect From The IPL This Year
|By Prasham Pratap|
IPL 2020 has finally seen the light of a day! It is happening and it's just 40 odd days away! However, for all the Indians who make it a point to watch at least one match in the stadium, it's a bummer because the IPL is happening in the UAE. This decision might not be a welcome one but is definitely one that is widely appreciated because the threat of COVID-19 cases in India is only increasing with each passing day making it a venue very dangerous for such a big league to happen.
The other big news related to IPL currently is that Vivo won't be sponsoring the IPL. In the wake of the Anti-China sentiment throughout the country, Vivo has decided to pull out as the title sponsor for the year 2020. It is said that the smartphones manufacturer will return in 2021.
Now, getting to the point, the IPL happening in UAE changes quite a lot of things for the viewers and the players. First of all, the concept of a biosecure bubble will be followed e wherein each team will be living in a separate hotel, and there will be restricted movement allowed. Apart from this, the game on the field is set to be quite different as compared to when in the Indian subcontinent.
Here are 3 things you can expect from IPL 2020 in the UAE.
Better Competition:
With the advantage of a home ground thrown out of the picture, it is going to be a level playing field for all the 8 IPL teams. These foreign conditions are going to be new for all the players and this might eventually give us an even better fought IPL than any previous years.
What this means that teams like CSK and MI who dominate at their home grounds will now be without that advantage and both teams on any day will start from zero.
The three stadiums in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi are grounds where especially the Indians have played limited cricket. It will be interesting to see how fast each team adapts to the conditions, and whether we will see any completely one-sided matches.
One possibility although, which cannot be ruled out by anyone this year is that with all the teams playing in totally different conditions, the chances of a new champion team emerging out from this year's IPL are slightly more.
Teams like Delhi Capitals, Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore have a very good chance this time around to win the coveted cup.
We have made dedicated videos for whether these three teams can win this year's IPL. Check them out here:
Lesser Sixes:
The grounds in the UAE are considerably bigger than grounds like MA Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore or Wankhede in Mumbai. This makes it harder for any batsman to cross the boundary with ease. So, don't be surprised if, in IPL 2020, the number of sixes is lesser than the previous years.
With just three grounds, the wear and tear of the pitches are also going to be much greater than usual, making it even more difficult for the batsmen to strike the ball and send it sailing into the air. The power hitters though, like Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Rohit Sharma, will still be able to find the fence, with their huge maximums.
But we might just see a lot of catching chances at the boundary in this IPL.
Spin Is King:
With bigger boundaries and more wear and tear on the pitch, the ball will only grip more over the course of the tournament. This will give a big upper hand to the spinners in the bowling department. Expect a lot of spinners getting consistent chances in the playing XI and having better figures as compared to the pacers.
Spinners will also be playing a part in bringing down the number of sixes overall. When the spinners take the pace off the ball, the power required by the batsman to send the ball across the rope will have to be much more than in the case of a pacer. Also, the wear and tear on the pitches will open the cracks towards the end of the league. This will help the spinners even more.
I won't be surprised if spinners turn out to be the stars of the season and they are the ones who win you the IPL. Maybe, the teams with better spinners will qualify for the playoffs.
Apart from this, we expect to see a minimum crowd or no crowd in the stadiums, a COVID testing every 2-3 days and low scoring games in this year's IPL. I just can't wait for the #IPL to happen. India's festival is coming up in the festive season this year!
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