IPL 2018: Each franchise's key battles for a spot in the starting XI

With every franchise having a squad ranging from 19 up to 25 players, choosing a starting 11 could prove to be tricky. There will be talented players vying for the same spot in the playing 11 and sometimes popular names have to, unfortunately, miss out.

IPL veterans like Chris Gayle and Harbhajan Singh found themselves battling it out with younger cricketers for a spot in the playing 11 in the 2017 edition.

Let us look at some of the top likely battles between familiar stars in every single franchise:

Chennai Super Kings

Harbhajan Singh vs. Karn Sharma

Harbhajan Singh is one of three people to have represented the same franchise for the first 10 years. The Mumbai Indians veteran lost his place in the starting 11 on a few occasions to fellow spinner, Karn Sharma. Karn Sharma was instrumental in the Mumbai Indians' title claim last season. Though they played in tandem too, Bhajji lost his place to Karn towards the end of the season, and even missed the final.

The pair were bought by the team from the other coast of India, the Chennai Super Kings. With Ravindra Jadeja a certainty in the starting 11, and two good part-time spinning options in Suresh Raina and Kedar Jadhav, it looks like there is space for just one more spinner in their starting 11. This leaves Bhajji and Karn battling it out again for a chance to play.

The Super Kings do have another option in the form of South African ace spinner Imran Tahir, albeit the final foreign slot is likely to be filled by Mark Wood or Lungi Ngidi owing to the Super Kings' dearth of fast bowling options.