IPL Preview - Best XI, Strengths, Weaknesses, Star Players & X-Factors and lots more of Each Team

After what was billed as the super auction, IPL 2018 gets underway soon.

Have the Daredevils truly improved? Will the King's XI make another run to the final? And how will the two returning teams fare? These are some of the questions that every IPL fan has right now.

The shortest format of the game is hard to predict and a good over for the bowling or the batting unit is sometimes all it takes for the game to turn on its head and for reputations and form to be thrown out of the window.

Therefore the task of predicting the teams' fortunes during the IPL is a tough task. However, here is a look ahead to the tournament and the break down of the strengths and weaknesses of each team, while also looking at who the star players and X-factors are potentially going to be for each squad.

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Chennai Super Kings

MS Dhoni will once against be leading in Yellow as CSK return to the IPL

Squad

MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Shane Watson, M Vijay, Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Lungi Ngidi, Sam Billings, Karn Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Mark Wood, Jagadeesan Narayan, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Dhruv Shorey, Kshitiz Sharma, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Monu Kumar, Kanishk Seth, Asif KM

Fan-favorite side CSK will make their returns to the IPL following a ban and the squad seems promising.

Best XI

Murali Vijay, Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, Faf Du Plessis, MS Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar

Strengths

The team is overflowing with match winners. In addition to that, the all-round talents in this team will make any team jealous. Watson and Bravo are more than capable of bowling their full quota overs which will give Dhoni the luxury of being very flexible with his combination. Expect Kedar Jadhav to also chip in with plenty of overs during the tournament.

Weaknesses

If there is such a thing, then CSK have the issue to who to leave out. With such a huge influx of talent at their disposal, CSK will have to get the combination absolutely right. There is a very likely scenario that stars like Harbhajan, Mark Wood, Sam Billings etc, don't even get in the XI. Keeping them happy on the bench will also be a challenge.

However, this is all just clutching at straws. CSK don't seem to have any real weaknesses and did their job very well at the auction.

Prediction: Potential finalists at the very least.

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