Below, The National Sportsdesk staffers make their predictions for the upcoming 2016 Indian Premier League season, the ninth IPL campaign.
The Indian Premier League starts on Saturday, April 9 and will run until May 29. Ahead of the world's most glamorous annual cricket competition, we try to survey the league's scene and provide an outlook for the coming season.
Click through to scroll the predictions.
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Paul Radley — Reporter
Winners: Mumbai Indians
Royal Challengers Bangalore have the most enviable squad, but they usually do, and have yet to taste IPL success. Mumbai Indians are not far behind when it comes to talent, and, as defending champions, they know how to get the job done.
Top batsman: Virat Kohli, Royal Challengers Bangalore
There were not really many words left to describe Kohli’s magnificence before the World T20 started, let alone after the succession of masterpieces he produced during it. There is no reason to believe he will not continue that form in his home competition.
Top bowler: Samuel Badree, Royal Challengers Bangalore
Took on the mantle of the leading bowler in international T20 from his West Indies teammate Sunil Narine, and he looks well placed to do the same in the IPL, too. Leg spin is king in T20, and he is one of its canniest purveyors.
Graham Caygill – Deputy Sports Editor
Winners: Royal Challenger Bangalore
Have an outstanding batting line-up with Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Kane Richardson and Virat Kohli at their disposal, which should scare the other seven franchises.
With Mitchell Starc leading a promising bowling attack, this should be finally the year Bangalore live up to their promise.
Top batsman: Quinton de Kock, Delhi Daredevils
The wicket-keeper batsman was one of the plus points of South Africa’s poor World Twenty20 campaign, and he will be a threat to any bowling attack if he gets a start in an innings.
Top bowler: Mitchell Starc, Royal Challengers Bangalore
The best strike bowler in the world at the climax of an innings, the Australian pace bowler should pick up plenty of wickets with his inswinging yorkers.
Chitrabhanu Kadalayil – Senior Sports Editor
Winners: Kolkata Knight Riders
They are the most settled IPL team, especially now that Chennai Super Kings have been disbanded. They have a balanced side with a proven leader in Gautam Gambhir at the helm, and they have won the competition twice.
Top batsman: Manish Pandey, Kolkata Knight Riders
The first Indian batsman to score an IPL hundred has also been one of Kolkata’s most dependable performers. His biggest motivation to score runs in this IPL will be to hold down spots in India’s limited-overs teams. He certainly has the game and the discipline to score consistently and post big scores.
Top bowler: Ravichandran Ashwin, Rising Pune Supergiants
What makes India’s No 1 spin bowler so good in this format – apart from carrying with him a big bag of tricks – is a fearlessness to attack opposition batsmen, rather than contain them. He may go for runs in the short term but takes important wickets at key moments. He is a genuine match-winner and is peaking in his career.
Kumar Shyam – Online Editor
Winners: Kolkata Knight Riders
A team with two of the best all-rounders in the game currently and packed with explosive batsmen, an experienced Kolkata Knight Riders should emerge as the first three-time champions of the IPL. They are also not depending on Sunil Narine alone this time. Andre Russell and Shakib Al Hasan are wily craftsmen with the bat and ball so much that Colin Munro may need to focus only on the bat.
Top batsman: Andre Russell, Kolkata Knight Riders
Robin Uthappa. Manish Pandey. Yusuf Pathan. Colin Munro. Gautam Gambhir. With such batsmen for partners, a two-time world champion in the format such as Andre Russell has the licence to thrill. All he needs is Gambhir to time his appearance as the West Indies all-rounder revels in the last five or seven overs.
Top bowler: Ravichandran Ashwin, Rising Pune Supergiants
Who else but a slow bowler on India’s flat-bed turning wickets. He did not do bad either for India at the World Twenty20. For someone who has been consistent and evolving as a thinking bowler, he can keep his wits around. He is also guaranteed four overs with the new team under his old captain MS Dhoni from Chennai Super Kings, enough to cause much damage.
Jon Turner — Online Editor
Winners: Royal Challengers Bangalore
A new IPL season, another year that RCB boasts arguably the strongest squad. Each year, the Virat Kohli-led side is backed to clinch their maiden title, and each year they fall short. This might just be the season their hoodoo ends.
Top batsman: AB de Villiers, Royal Challengers Bangalore
The fourth highest runs scorer in 2015, the South African batsman, with an IPL career average of nearly 37, will again feature among the top of the list. Should RCB go all the way, De Villiers has all the tools and experience to come out on top.
Top bowler: Ravichandran Ashwin, Rising Pune Supergiants
Ranked the third best T20 bowler in the world by the ICC, Ashwin is one of the most economic bowlers in this season’s IPL. The Supergiants spinner will expect to vastly improve his tally of 10 wickets from last season’s tournament.
Jonathan Raymond – Online Editor
Winners: Rising Pune Supergiants
Take the leaders of gone-but-not-forgotten 2015 finalists Chennai Super Kings (MS Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin), and give them the second-leading run scorer from a year ago (Ajinkya Rahane), another top-15 run scorer from a year ago (Faf du Plessis), two more of the world's best batsmen (Kevin Pietersen, Steve Smith), the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy leading wicket-taker (Irfan Pathan), a couple more proven domestic wicket-takers (Ishwar Pandey, RP Singh), one of the world's best young spinners (Adam Zampa), sprinkle on a few more quality internationals (Mitchell Marsh, Thisara Perera, Albie Morkel), throw in Ishant Sharma for good measure and voila – you have fast bowling, spin bowling, steady openers, big hitters, high-end quality, strength in depth. All the makings of a championship side.
Top batsman: Shreyas Iyer, Delhi Daredevils
The precocious 21-year-old Mumbai batsman was eighth on the runs table last year (439), eighth in the domestic T20 tournament (284) and was the highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy (1321) by a long, long way (next best: 879). The kid knows how to score runs on Indian soil.
Top bowler: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sunrisers Hyderabad
Fun fact: No spinner has led the IPL in wickets taken since Pragyan Ojha did it in 2010. And yes, spinners were the story of the World T20, but IPL top wicket takers have recently been medium or medium-fast (Dwayne Bravo, 2013 and 2015, Mohit Sharma, 2014). Bravo himself would make a good pick, but Kumar is a proven IPL performer who, sidelined by India at the World T20, should have his freshest stuff in reserve.