IPL 2020: Sanjay Manjrekar rates CSK's batting greater than MI and RCB's

The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League is right around the corner. The IPL 2020 will officially commence from September 19. All the franchises have reached UAE for the cash-rich league. Apart from CSK, all the other franchises have resumed their training as well ahead of the IPL 2020. Speculations have started amongst the cricket fans to determine which team is the favourite to win the championship. Former India cricketer-turned- commentator, Sanjay Manjrekar shared his rankings of the strongest batting line-up in the tournament, given that the UAE pitches assist the spinners. 

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Sanjay Manjrekar ranks IPL 2020 batting line-ups for turning pitches of UAE:

Sanjay Manjrekar feels that CSK have the strongest batting line-up in spin-friendly conditions, whereas he rated RR as the weakest of the lot. Surprisingly, even after CSK mainstay Suresh Raina opting out of the IPL 2020, Manjrekar feels that CSK have the most potent batting unit on turning wickets and are ahead of batting powerhouses like Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)

Looking at CSK's batting unit, Shane Watson is considered a decent player of spin as he prefers to counter-attack with slog-sweeps. Faf du Plessis is also hailed as one the best players of spin in the world and is known for using his feet to efficiently tackle spin. However, Faf and the South African team struggled during their tour of Sri Lanka in 2018. In a press conference after the tour, he had mentioned how playing spin in the sub-continent is a very challenging task and does trouble a batsman. 

MS Dhoni is the best bet in the CSK contingent to bail the team out of any situation. He has had his success in spin-friendly wickets, although his strike-rate has dropped drastically against spin in the latter half of his career. In fact, in IPL 2017, his strike-rate against the faster bowlers was 135, whereas it dropped to 84 against the spinners.

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Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma too has been dealing with leg-spin woes from the past couple of seasons in the IPL. In 2017, he fell prey to spinners five times in his first six games with his strike-rate dropping to 84 from 146.

When we talk about RCB, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers undoubtedly seem their best players of spin. However, leg-spin has been a concern for RCB's skipper. The bowler to dismiss Kohli the most number of times in ODIs is Adam Zampa, with 7 dismissals. Zampa had spoken about the issue himself, about Kohli being a little vulnerable against leg spinners early on. Ironically, Zampa is also a part of the RCB contingent now after Kane Richardson's unavailability for the IPL 2020.

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IPL 2020: Schedule to come out soon 

Reportedly, the full schedule for the IPL 2020 is expected to be out on Friday. The BCCI had announced earlier that the IPL 2020 will commence from September 19 and will stretch till November 10.

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Source: Sanjay Manjrekar Twitter