IPL 2022: Gavaskar, Hayden predict top-four teams in play-offs race

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Bengaluru, March 27: The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season began with a bang with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beating defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and as the excitement builds up, India cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar and former Australian opener Matthew Hayden have picked up four teams they believe will make it to play-offs.

In the IPL 2022 lung opener in Mumbai on Saturday (March 26) night), put into bat, CSK rode on Mahendra Singh Dhoni's unbeaten fifty and contributions from skipper Ravindra Jadeja (26 not out) and Robin Uthappa (28) to manage a modest 131 for five.

Dhoni, playing for the first time after 12 seasons without wearing the captain's armband, slammed seven fours and a six in his 38-ball innings.

In reply, KKR overhauled the target, scoring 133 for four in 18.3 overs.

For KKR, Umesh Yadav snapped two wickets, while Varun Chakravarthy (1/23) and Andre Russell (1/38) also kept things in check as CSK found the going tough at the Wankhede stadium.

Dwayne Bravo was the most successful bowler for CSK, snapping three for 20 in his quota of four overs. Mitchell Santner (1/31) took one.

And while the talk on Dhoni's resurgence continues, two greats weighed in their opinion on who is going to make it to the last four in the cash-rich global T20 franchise based T20 tournament conducted under the auspices of the Board of Control for Cricket in India since 2008.

Speaking during an episode of Cricket Live on pti, the official broadcaster of the IPL 2022, Gavaskar, the first batter in cricket history to scale 10,000 runs in Tests said," Of course Mumbai Indians. I think Delhi Capitals, the way they have progressed in the last couple years is impressive, so Delhi Capitals are the second team. Then I think it could be Kolkata Knight Riders because they are a very very good team. And I am hoping for Jaddu's sake that Chennai Super Kings could be the fourth team."

Former Australian opener Hayden had a different take on the matter though. "CSK will be the first team I wish to see in the top four. I am actually going to leave Mumbai Indians out of that. I'll have Delhi across in the list and then Kolkata. And then pretty much like last year, I think RCB have really good side. So these my top four picks," said Hayden, who himself had played for the Chennai-based franchise.

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There were a few sub plots in the IPL 2022 lung opner, season 15 of the BCCI sanctioned event with Caribbean entertainer Dwayne Bravo equallinf Lasith Malinga's IPL record for most wickets.

Both are at tied now with 170 wickets apiece.

Both CSK and KKR came to the field with new captains, Ravindra Jadeja for the Chennaiites and Shreyas Iyer for the Kolkatans. But overall, the KKR made a better effort on the night and for Chennai, they might have felt the absence of injured Deepak Chahar and Moeen Ali, who might join the team back for their next match.

Bring it on! Game On!

The IPL 2022 will end on May 29, Buck up guys!