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Chennai: Chennai Super Kings will be chasing a hat-trick of titles in the Indian Premier League (IPL) that starts Wednesday. But the other eight franchises too can spring a surprise. The following is an analysis of all the nine teams taking part in the fifth IPL:
The season's lung opener at the MA Chidambaram stadium could not have got any better as two of the strongest teams in the tournament will set the tone for the high-octane Twenty20 tournament over the next eight weeks.
Banking on their home advantage which enabled them to win back-to-back titles, the Chennai outfit, led by talismanic Mahendra Singh Dhoni, will be hoping for their third consecutive IPL crown, but for that to happen they will have to pull out all stops to ensure a winning start to their campaign as their rivals -- Mumbai Indians -- appear to hold a slender edge.
Dhoni, who led Chennai to two IPL titles and final and semi-final appearance once, besides the 2010 CLT20 crown, however, would like to put behind Team India's recent poor run and utilise the Twenty20 event to ease the pressure.
Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, will be under a new captain in Harbhajan Singh after Sachin Tendulkar relinquished the position on Monday.
With a few new additions to the team, Mumbai looks a solid side this year and would be desperate to annex their maiden IPL title, which eluded the outfit for the last four years.
Mumbai's confidence is high after Harbhajan led it to the CLT20 victory last year in the absence of an injured Tendulkar.
Mumbai Indians look the most complete team and will be keen on winning their maiden IPL trophy. Sachin Tendulkar has been declared fit for the tournament and will bolster an already formidable batting line-up of Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, and latest T20 sensation Richard Levi.
Sri Lanka speedster Lasith Malinga and Australian Mitchell Johnson will be the bowlers to look out for besides the familiar Munaf Patel and Rudra Pratap Singh. Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha will lead the spin attack. Mumbai reached the finals in 2010 and came fourth in the last edition.
Teams from:
Chennai: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Albie Morkel, Dwayne Bravo, George Bailey, Srikkanth Anirudha, Faf du Plessis, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ben Hilfenhaus, Ravindra Jadeja, Shadab Jakati, Joginder Sharma, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh, Abhinav Mukund, Wriddhiman Saha, Scott Styris, Sudeep Tyagi, K Vasudevadas, Ganapathi Vignesh
Mumbai: Harbhajan Singh (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Abu Nechim, Aiden Blizzard, Yuzvendra Chahal, James Franklin, Herschelle Gibbs, Davy Jacobs, Mitchell Johnson, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Dhawal Kulkarni, Richard Levi, Clint McKay, Lasith Malinga, Sushant Marathe, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel, Thissara Perera, Robin Peterson, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Jaydev Shah, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Tirumalsetti Suman, Pawan Suyal, Aditya Tare, Suryakumar Yadav, Amitoze Singh, Sujit Nayak, Rahul Shukla, Apoorv Wankhade
Match facts
Wednesday April 4, 2012 (day/night)
Start time 20:00 local (15:30 GMT)
