IPL 2025: Predicting four teams that will reach playoffs

The IPL 2025 is scheduled to start on March 14 and will conclude on May 25. It will be the 18th edition of the tournament and will witness a total of 74 matches. The retention window for the upcoming edition closed on October 31 last year. The 10 teams retained a total of 46 players before going into the mega auction.

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The mega auction for IPL 2025 took place on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Punjab Kings created history when they picked Shreyas Iyer for a price of INR 26.75 crore, and he became the most expensive player in the history of the auction. 

However, the record didn't last long as Lucknow Super Giants, true to their name, spent a giant amount of INR 27 crore for Rishabh Pant. Thus, Pant became the most expensive player in IPL auction's history. Both Iyer and Pant, who once played for Delhi Capitals together, will likely be announced as the skipper of their respective sides.

All 10 teams came with a defined plan for the auction. Some of them might have even managed to execute all the plans. However, such are auction dynamics that no team can get all their plans in order. On paper, all teams have a strong squad at their disposal. However, only four teams manage to qualify for the playoffs, and one team from them wins the tournament. Here, we have named the four teams that might reach playoffs.

1. Sunrisers Hyderabad

The runner-up from the last edition of the IPL paved the way for a new form of batting style in T20 cricket. SRH showed that totals like 250 or 270 are also very easy to reach. SRH retained four of their top five run-scorers from last season. In addition, they added Ishan Kishan and Abhinav Manohar in the lineup who can easily fit in the middle-order.

The trio of Mohammed Shami, Jaydev Unadkat and Harshal Patel will take care of the pace attack of the team. Rahul Chahar and Adam Zampa are two proven performers in the squad who can easily restrict batters to score runs with their magic of spin bowling.

2. Gujarat Titans

Gujarat Titans created history when they won the IPL in their debut year. They managed to do that as they had all the bases covered right from the openers to the middle-order, finishers, and bowlers. The mega auction helped GT prepare a similar squad as their debut year.

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Jos Buttler will join Shubman Gill at the top of the order, and the duo can easily make a mockery of any bowling attack. The addition of Glenn Phillips again has strengthened the middle order, as he is someone who can bat in any position. Washington Sundar will be an important player, considering his skill set. The trio of Kagiso Rabada, Mohammad Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna can easily bowl in different phases of the game.

3. Punjab Kings

Punjab Kings brought in Ricky Ponting as the head coach this year, and he made some very strategic moves at the auction table. Firstly, the addition of Shreyas Iyer means PBKS have an option for an Indian skipper with a proven track record. They invested heavily in all-rounders like Azmatullah Omarzai, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, and Glenn Maxwell, who are likely to give them enough returns.

Shashank Singh and Arshdeep Singh have already shown what they can do for the team last season. A bowling attack led by Yuzvendra Chahal will likely be very exciting to watch.

4. Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians has a solid Indian core containing four of the current Indian captains and vice-captains in the form of Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah. Tilak Varma is another exciting talent who has established himself in the T20I side of the Indian team.

The pace trio of Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, and Bumrah are likely to create a huge impact for the team. The young Indian batters like Namar Dhir and Robin Minz might find a place in the playing 11 regularly and become future stars.

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