IPL 2020: Ten players to watch

Ever since IPL’s inaugural edition in 2008, the league has traditionally thrown up openings at the very top level of the sport for several players. Ahead of the tournament’s first match to be played in Abu Dhabi, let us take a look at the top 10 players to watch out for in this edition

- Saibal Chatterjee

GLENN MAXWELL: The Australian power hitter has returned to Kings XI Punjab, the franchise he played for from 2014 to 2017. The explosive limited-overs man will be the pivot around which the team’s wheels will turn. The first year that Maxwell turned out for them, KXIP went all the way to the final, where they lost to KKR. Since then, the team has underperformed. Will the 31-year-old spark a revival?

ANDRE RUSSELL: When he is on song with the bat, Andre Russell, widely regarded as T20 cricket’s most impacful player, possesses the ability to stamp his authority on a match. Kolkata Knight Riders will obviously hope that the 32-year-old Jamaican allrounder will carry last year’s form into the latest edition. With the ball, too, Russell is no mean force. He chips in with wickets at crucial junctures.

ROHIT SHARMA: The Mumbai Indians captain is among the classiest batsmen in the Indian Premier League. He can be destructive when he changes gears but his stroke-making never loses its elegance.