Your all-inclusive preview to the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League, including history, squad lists and our very own Sport360 predictions.

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– Sport360’s 5 IPL gamechangers ready to make their mark
– The most controversial moments in the history of the IPL

Chennai Super Kings
No team boasts such an impressive record in the tournament as the Super Kings. They always enter all the Twenty20 events as favourites because they also have a strong squad which covers all bases, especially in Indian conditions. 

Key players: McCullum, Dhoni, Raina, Bravo, Ashwin
Big buys: Michael Hussey, Kyle Abbot, Irfan Pathan
IPL record: Matches played 115, Won 69, Lost 44, Tied/ No result 2, Win percentage 60.96
How they finished: Champions 2010, 2011, Runners-up 2008, 2012, 2013, Fourth 2009 Last season: Third 
Sport360° view: Always the contenders, they are the team to beat. 

Captain & Wicketkeeper: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Openers: Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum
Middle-order batsmen: Michael Hussey, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Mithun Manhas, Baba Aparajith, Ankush Bains, Eklavya Dwivedi
All-rounders: Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Pratyush Singh
Pacers: Ashish Nehra, Mohit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Matt Henry, Kyle Abbott, Ronit More, Andrew Tye
Spinners: Ravichandran Ashwin, Samuel Badree, Pawan Negi, Rahul Sharma
Coach: Stephen Fleming

Rajasthan Royals
On paper they appear to have a formidable squad, banking heavily on an awesome array of foreign talent. Watson is spoilt for choice and will need to strike the right balance as only four overseas players can be on the park. Bowling is a weak link, but they bat deep. 

Key players: Rahane, Faulkner
Big buy: Chris Morris
IPL record: Matches Played 104, Won 54, Lost 48, Tied 2, Win percentage 52.88
How they finished: Champions 2008; Third 2013; Sixth 2009, 2011; Seventh 2010, 2012 Last season: Fifth 
Sport360° view: The dangerous floaters who often manage to stay in the hunt. Should finish among the top five. 

Captain: Shane Watson
Openers: Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair
Middle-order batsmen: Steven Smith, Rajat Bhatia
Wicketkeepers: Sanju Samson, Dishant Yagnik
All-rounders: Stuart Binny, Abhishek Nayar, James Faulkner, Chris Morris, Sagar Trivedi
Pacers: Tim Southee, Ben Cutting, Juan Theron, Dhawal Kulkarni, Vikramjeet Malik
Spinners: Pravin Tambe, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tewatia, Ankit Sharma, Dinesh Salunkhe, Pradeep Sahu, Barinder Saran
Coach: Paddy Upton

Mumbai Indians
Their overall record in winning games is pretty impressive but that has not translated into titles. However, they always present a strong challenge to the contenders despite the odd wobble.

Key players: Rohit, Pollard, Anderson, Harbhajan
Big buys: Finch, McClenaghan
IPL record: Matches played 110, Won 63, Lost 47, Win percentage 57.27
How they finished: Champions 2013; Runners-up 2010; Third 2011; Fourth 2012; Fifth 2008; Seventh 2009; Last season: Fourth
Sport360° view: The local talent does not match up to the foreign hands in the squad. Spot in the qualifiers at best.

Captain: Rohit Sharma
Openers: Lendl Simmons, Aaron Finch, Unmukt Chand
Middle-order batsmen: Ambati Rayudu, Aiden Blizzard, Nitish Rana, Siddesh Lad 
Wicketkeepers: Parthiv Patel, Aditya Tare
All-rounders: Corey Anderson, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya
Pacers: Lasith Malinga, Josh Hazlewood, Marchant de Lange, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vinay Kumar, Pawan Suyal
Spinners: Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Shreyas Gopal, Akshay Wakhare, Jagadeesha Suchitch
Coach: John Wright

Royal Challengers Bangalore
Any team that has Gayle, de Villiers and Kohli in the squad are serious contenders. However, they have fared miserably on most occasions and their failure to fire collectively as a team has hurt them often. But they possess too good a squad and success could just be around the corner.

Key players: Gayle, de Villiers, Kohli, Starc
Big buys: Darren Sammy, Dinesh Karthik, Sean Abbot, Adam Milne
IPL record: Matches 108, Won 52, Lost 53, Tied/ No result 3, Win percentage 49.53 How they finished: Runners-up 2009, 2011; Third 2010; Fifth 2012, 2013; Seventh 2008 Last season: Seventh
Sport360° view: They need to get some wins early to get going. The dark horses.

Captain: Virat Kohli
Openers: Chris Gayle, Nic Maddinson, Manvinder Bisla
Wicketkeepers: Dinesh Karthik, AB de Villiers, Yogesh Takawale
Middle-order batsmen: Rilee Rossouw, Subramaniam Badrinath, Mandeep Singh, Vijay Zol, Sarfaraz Khan, Shishir Bhavane
All-rounders: Darren Sammy, David Wiese, Jalaj Saxena
Pacers: Mitchell Starc, Adam Milne, Sean Abbot, Varun Aaron, Ashok Dinda, Abu Nechim, Sandeep Warrier, Harshal Patel,
Spinners: Yuzvendra Chahal, Iqbal Abdulla
Coach: Daniel Vettori

Kolkata Knight Riders
They are an in-form team having won 14 of their last 15 Twenty20 matches. The defending champions derive their strength from their bowling attack, the strongest in the league, backed by quality all-rounders and openers.

Key players: Gambhir, Uthappa, Shakib, Morkel, Umesh, Narine
Big buys: Brad Hogg
IPL record: Matches played 104, Won 53, Lost 49, Tied 2, Win percentage 51.92
How they finished: Champions 2012; Fourth 2011; Sixth 2008, 2010; Seventh 2013, Eighth 2009 Last season: Champions
Sport360° view: Their batting is heavily dependent on the openers and if they falter then their campaign will be shaky. An encore looks tough but they should surely make the top four.

Captain: Gautam Gambhir
Wicketkeepers: Robin Uthappa, Sheldon Jackson
Middle-order batsmen: Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Aditya Garhwal, Vaibhav Rawal
All-rounders: Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Ryan ten Doeschate, Andre Russell, Azhar Mahmood, Sumit Narwal
Pacers: Morne Morkel, Pat Cummins, Umesh Yadav, Veer Pratap Singh
Spinners: Sunil Narine, Johan Botha, Piyush Chawla, Brad Hogg, Kuldeep Yadav, KC Cariappa
Coach: Trevor Bayliss

Kings XI Punjab
They enlivened the proceedings last season with their enterprising brand of cricket. A redeeming feature of the squad is the Indian talent’s ability to step up and steal a march over their much-acclaimed overseas players. The Kings possess an exciting batting line-up, the best allrounder in the business and an effective bowling attack.

Key players: Maxwell, Johnson, Patel
Big buys: Murali Vijay
IPL record: Matches played 106, Won 55, Lost 50, Tied 1, Win percentage 52.35
How they finished: Third 2008; Fifth 2009, 2011; Sixth 2012, 2013; Eighth 2010 Last season: Runners-up
Sport360° view: They have not tinkered much with the squad which means they will back themselves to go all the distance. Have the potential to lift the title this time.

Captain: George Bailey
Openers: Virender Sehwag, Murali Vijay
Middle-order batsmen: Manan Vohra, Shaun Marsh, David Miller, Gurkeerat Mann Singh, Nikhil Naik
Wicketkeeper: Wriddhiman Saha
All-rounders: Glenn Maxwell, Thisara Perera, Rishi Dhawan
Pacers: Mitchell Johnson, Beuran Hendricks, Sandeep Sharma, Parvinder Awana, Shardul Thakur, Anureet Singh
Spinners: Axar Patel, Karanveer Singh, Shivam Sharma, Yogesh Golwalkar
Coach: Sanjay Bangar

Delhi Daredevils
After a series of failures Delhi have gone in with a totally fresh squad buying 14 new players and dumping the 13 that did duty for them last season. They have managed to string together a strong bowling attack but the batting looks very weak in comparison.

Key players: Mathews, Tahir 
Big buys: Yuvraj, Albie Morkel, Zaheer
IPL record: Matches 105, Won 44, Lost 59, Tied/ No result 2, Win percentage 42.78
How they finished: Third 2009, 2012; Third 2010; Fifth 2012, 2013; Seventh 2008 Last season: Eighth
Sport360° view: Despite the wholesale changes made to the squad, they still do not inspire confidence and will struggle to finish among the top five.

Captain: Jean-Paul Duminy Openers: Quinton de Kock, Mayank Agarwal
Middle-order batsmen: Manoj Tiwary, Travis Head, Saurabh Tiwary, Kedar Jadhav, Shreyas Iyer
Wicketkeepers: CM Gautam, Srikar Bharat
All-rounders: Angelo Mathews, Yuvraj Singh, Marcus Stoinis
Pacers: Albie Morkel, Mohammad Shami, Nathan-Coulter Nile, Gurinder Sandhu, Zaheer Khan, Domnic Joseph, Jaidev Unadkat
Spinners: Imran Tahir, Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem, Jayant Yadav, KK Jiyaz
Coach: Gary Kirsten

Sunrisers Hyderabad
Another team that have made big changes by releasing 11 players into the auction pool. The Sunrisers have put together a decent squad but success is less than certain. Their batting is completely reliant on the overseas players and a bit top heavy, while their bowling is relatively well-stocked. Kevin Pietersen will only be available for the knockouts, which means captain David Warner has to fire regularly for them to have a say.

Key players: Warner, Williamson, Dhawan, Ishant, Ojha
Big buys: Pietersen, Boult
IPL record: Matches played 31, Won 15, Lost 15, Tied 1, Win percentage 50.00
How they finished: Fourth 2013 Last season: Sixth
Sport360° view: If the batsmen flourish they have a chance to make the knockouts, otherwise it will be a struggle.  

Captain: David Warner 
Opener: Shikhar Dhawan Middle-order batsmen: Kane Williamson, Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, LK Rahul, Hanuma Vihari, Ricky Bhui
Wicketkeepers: Naman Ojha
All-rounders: Moises Henriques, Ravi Bopara, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Prasanth Padmanabhan
Pacers: Dale Steyn, Trent Boult, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Siddharth Kaul, Chama Milind, Ashish Reddy
Spinners: Parvez Rasool, Karn Sharma 
Coach: Tom Moody