JOIN USBrisbane Heat
: James Hopes (captain), Joe Burns, Daniel Christian, Ben Cutting, Peter Forrest, Matthew Gale, Cameron Gannon, Chris Hartley, Nathan Hauritz, Alex Kemp, Chris Lynn, Alister McDermott, Dom Michael, Kemar Roach, Chris Sabburg.
James Hopes: Hopes has a Bachelor’s degree in being a joker of all trades. The Brisbane captain, who has represented three IPL teams, will know the conditions in the sub-continent and his contribution could be the key for the Big Bash League champions.
Kemar Roach: Roach’s disconcerting bounce could provide the early breakthroughs that are crucial in this form of the game. His destructive 3/18 in the BBL final helped Brisbane trump Scorchers by 34 runs.
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, S Badrinath, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Jason Holder, Michael Hussey, Imtiaz Ahmed, Ravindra Jadeja, Albie Morkel, Chris Morris, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha, Mohit Sharma, Murali Vijay.
Ravindra Jadeja: The current hot-shot of Indian cricket, Jadeja’s rise to super stardom has been astonishing. His skipper MS Dhoni will be relying on him to produce the goods once again.
MS Dhoni: The lead actor in the CSK ensemble, MSD’s performances over the years for the yellow brigade have played a huge part in the franchise dominating the T20 format.
n Highveld Lions: Alviro Petersen (captain), Temba Bavuma, Gulam Bodi, Quinton de Kock, Imran Tahir, Neil McKenzie, Ethan O'Reilly, Aaron Phangiso, Dwaine Pretorius, Sohail Tanvir, Jean Symes, Thami Tsolekile, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Rassie van der Dussen, Hardus Viljoen.
Lonwabo Tsotsobe: One of the ‘other’ members of the irrepresible South African pace battering ram, the left-armer will view this as an opportunity to throw his hat back into the ring.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Abu Nechim, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rishi Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Johnson, Dinesh Karthik, Glenn Maxwell, Pragyan Ojha, Akshar Patel, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Dwayne Smith, Aditya Tare, Sachin Tendulkar.
Dinesh Karthik: The ’keeper’s ability to take the attack to the spinners will play a crucial role in how the Mumbai Indians build their innings and send in their big hitters. The last season was one of remarkable transformation for the Tamil Nadu man, who moved from a sidekick to lead actor.
Kieron Pollard: Having already tasted CLT20 success with the same franchise in 2011, Pollard could play a crucial role in bringing the title to Mumbai once again.
Otago Volts: Derek de Boorder (captain), Nick Beard, Michael Bracewell, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Mark Craig, Jacob Duffy, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, James McMillan, James Neesham, Aaron Redmond, Hamish Rutherford, Ryan ten Doeschate, Neil Wagner.
Men to watch: Brendon
McCullum: The New Zealand outfit are the underdogs in the tournament but with their big hitter Brendon, they could well muster a few shocks along the way.
Ryan ten Doeschate: The reliable Dutch cricketer, who is very experienced in this format from his time playing in the English leagues, leads the Volts’ supporting cast.
Perth Scorchers: Simon Katich (captain), Ashton Agar, Michael Beer, Jason Behrendorff, Hilton Cartwright, Burt Cockley, Liam Davis, Brad Hogg, Joe Mennie, Marcus North, Joel Paris, Tom Triffitt, Ashton Turner, Adam Voges, Sam Whiteman.
Adam Voges: The veteran left-hander has been involved in over 110 T20 games and his experience will stand Perth Scorchers in good stead at the top of the order.
Ashton Agar: The youngster burst into limelight with his performance in the first Test against England iand he will look to add more dimensions to his fledgling career.
Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (captain), Stuart Binny, Kevon Cooper, James Faulkner, Brad Hodge, Vikramjeet Malik, Ashok Menaria, Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, Rahul Shukla, Shaun Tait, Pravin Tambe, Siddharth Trivedi, Shane Watson, Dishant Yagnik.
Shane Watson (Rajasthan Royals): In good form with two tons against England in the Ashes and the ODIs, Watson is an important asset to the Royals because he can open the bowling as well.
Ashok Menaria (Rajasthan Royals): Having impressed with both bat and ball in the series against New Zealand ‘A’ that concluded last week, Menaria’s variations will give skipper Rahul Dravid more bowling options.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Anand Rajan, Ashish Reddy, Jean-Paul Duminy, Amit Mishra, Parthiv Patel, Thisara Perera, Biplab Samantray, Darren Sammy, Ishant Sharma Karn Sharma, Dale Steyn, Hanuma Vihari, Cameron White.
Shikhar Dhawan: A left-hander in his pomp, Dhawan’s mercurial instincts at the top will keep Hyderabad in with a decent shout of reaching the last four and beyond.
Dale Steyn: A fast-bowler that puts bums on seats, Steyn’s express pace will make the job for the opposition batsmen a lot harder and gives Hyderabad an automatic edge when it comes to defending low targets.
Nashua Titans: Henry Davids (captain), Farhaan Behardien, Marchant de Lange, AB de Villiers, Cornelius de Villiers, Heino Kuhn, Eden Links, Ethy Mbhalati, Morne Morkel, Mangaliso Mosehle, Rowan Richards, Jacques Rudolph, Graeme van Buuren, Roelof van der Merwe, David Wiese.
AB de Villiers: Shotmaker extraordinaire, de Villiers’ innovative brand of batsmanship is something that the Indian fans will look forward to when the Titans begin their campaign.
Morne Morkel: The tall fast bowler has not had the success he would have liked with the Delhi Daredevils but he remains a dangerous customer with his pace – something that most Indian batsmen don’t like.
Trinidad & Tobago: Denesh Ramdin (captain), Samuel Badree, Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Rayad Emrit, Shannon Gabriel, Sherwin Ganga, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Yannick Ottley, Nicolas Pooran, Ravi Rampaul, Lendl Simmons, Navin Stewart.
Darren Bravo: The left-hander has flickered in bits and blobs but this format provides an ideal platform for Bravo to kickstart his stop-start career.
Sunil Narine: Knowing the conditions like the back of his hand because of his association with the Knight Riders, Narine’s economy rate of 5.42 is one of the best for any bowlers ever in this form of the game.