With the schedule for the Indian Premier League tournament officially announced for this year, fans are already anticipating which teams could perform well this year. The 13th edition of IPL will take place in the UAE between September and November, and with a change in location, a few surprises could be in store for all. Former Australia cricketer Brad Hogg was recently asked which teams he believe could be contenders for IPL\u2009this year.\u2009In his response, Hogg named Mumbai\u2009Indians and Royal Challengers.<\/p>\n
But interestingly, Hogg also said that he could see India all-rounder Hardik Pandya becoming the \u2018man of the tournament\u2019 this year. \u201cWell, Mumbai Indians look like they are going to be champions again. They are one of my top two teams going into this year\u2019s IPL in UAE this year,\u201d\u2009Hogg said on his Youtube page Hogg\u2019s Vlog.<\/p>\n
The reason for this is that they have got a good top four, they also have good allrounders and their bowling attack is stable led by two geniuses with the new ball, and in death overs \u2013 Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The former Australian spinner felt the reasons for Hardik Pandya potentially being the standout performer of the tournament were more than one. Firstly, his return to competitive cricket after a long time, followed by the arrival of his baby which is sure to get him extra energy in the upcoming mega cash rich tournament.<\/p>\n
The former Aussie allrounder also explained why he believes RCB could be contenders this year. \u201cThe second team I have got for you is for RCB. Finally, they will have a big chance to take out an IPL. They have always had good stock on paper, but they have never been able to go out and get the job done.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, with inclusion of Aaron Finch at the top, he will be able to dominate in the powerplay overs, get some quick runs, and relieve the pressure in the middle order off AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli in the middle order,\u201d he said<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, their bowling attack looks strong with Dale Steyn and Kane Richardson, and they have a better team balance as compared to last couple of years. They will have a better strategy going into the tournament,\u201d Hogg added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brad Hogg said that he could see India all-rounder Hardik Pandya becoming the \u2018man of the tournament\u2019 this year and reasons why<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":24202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}