Only for the second time in history of IPL, the tournament has been moved out of India this year due to the ongoing pandemic. With UAE and Sri Lanka offering to host the tournament, UAE was selected.
Mumbai Indians defeated Chennai Super Kings in the final of 2019 to be crowned the champions and they will be looking to repeat that again this time around. When it comes to the IPL, the most successful teams have been Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings with four and three wins respectively.
Former Australian Pacer Brett Lee who represented Kings Xl Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders before announcing his retirement in 2013 has picked Chennai Super Kings to be the favorites to lift the cup.
“I reckon their(CSK) strength is that their players are a bit more elderly, mature. They’ve got that youth coming through but they’ve got a lot of players who’ve been around a long, long time and I’d say that’s their greatest strength,” Lee said on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports.
CSK have retained most of the players and also aren't big fans of changes, as they look to play with the same team as when the franchise was started. They have one of the most experienced players in their line-up with the likes of MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Imran Tahir, Shane Watson and Harbhajan Singh.
The 35-year old added that the pitch whole definitely suits the CSK players and would find it just to like their home Conditions. CSK were quite in the latest auctions and the only big purchase made was of Piyush Chawla. With the addition of Chawla, the team now has six front-line spinners and it is definitely going to be a good headache for the team and MS Dhoni on rotating them.
“It’s definitely right up there and that will definitely suit those wickets,” Lee said. “Recently, I’ve looked at the forecast of the next two or three weeks. It’s 40 degrees, plus the wickets will surely turn. Therefore, I feel CSK will feel a lot more at home. Imagine all those spinners getting big rips, big turns. I reckon they are definitely suited for this tournament and should definitely be favorites.”
Brett Lee has played 76 Tests and 221 ODIs for Australia claiming 310 and 380 wickets respectively. He is considered one of the best pacers the continent has produced. The 43-year old has played 38 matches in the IPL, picking up 25 wickets with the best figures of 3/15 to his name.
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