Cricket personalities Anshuman Gaekwad, Reetinder Singh, Atul Wassan and Rajkumar Sharma spoke to The Daily Guardian about the fate of IPL 2020. Excerpts:
Q. Anshuman, you always support Mumbai Indians, will you this season again support Mumbai Indians, or you have some other ideas this time?
Anshuman Gaekwad (AG). Yes, I have always been supportive of Mumbai Indians and I should also tell that I have been associ- ated with cricket for the last 50 years. In T20, the predictions that I do are mostly right, I am a fan of Mumbai Indians, and it is a very good team.
Q. Reetinder, what should you say about Kings XI Punjab? Last time you were associated with them and they have a strong team right now. What would you like to say is a batsman like Chris Gayle?
Reetinder Singh (RS): Kings XI Punjab is a very strong team, it is a very balanced team. They have players like Chris Gayle, Muller, Nicholas Pooran, Maxwell, K.L. Rahul. The team is full of explosive batsmen. Mohammed Shami would be an X factor, and this time Anil Kumble is the coach, so the strategy of the team is going to be completely different.
Q. Atul, do you agree that Chennai Super King is not being considered a strong contender?
Atul Wassan (AW). I do not think it is the right thing to do prediction in T20 because in every team there are big names who have been the match winners. In the first season of the IPL, Rajasthan Royals seemed to be the weakest team on paper, but they ended up lifting the trophy.
Q. Do you think Chennai Super King has weakened due to the departure of Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh?
AW. See, I don’t think Harbhajan Singh would have made such a difference, even if he played all the matches of the sea- son. And talking about Suresh Raina, it is not necessary that because of a big player, there will be such a difference in the team, someone else will do well in their place and will take the team forward.
Q. Rajkumar, how do you RCB doing this time?
Rajkumar Sharma (RK). RCB always start as a favourite team but unfortunately they never finish. I also agree with Atul that it is very difficult to predict in T20. Nevertheless, RCB is looking good this time. Virat Kohli also stated that he is very confident about this team.
Q. Dehli Capitals are playing few quality spinners, do you think DC have an upper hand on the pitches of UAE?
RK. Delhi is looking very strong this time because they have quality spinners and batsmen. I think Delhi can surprise this time and will run a long race.
Q. Reetinder, what is your prediction regarding RCB and Delhi?
RS. If we talk about the combination, then Punjab is the best. However when we talk about RCB, then the whole team is dependent on Virat Kohli. If Virat Kohli goes, then the team is gone as well. RCB must contribute on their own along with Virat.
Q. It’s being said that it will be very difficult for fast bowlers to bowl here because of the hot weather…
AW. I think it will be a difficult task because last year too when we went to Dubai for the Asia Cup, it was very hot; it is very difficult for fast bowlers