IPL 2025 starts at the end of this week and as ever getting the innings off to a flying start will be crucial.

It's no massive surprise that the 2 teams who were most effective in the powerplay last season ended up contesting the final.

AI generated image created using ChatGPT

In fact, the scoring in the powerplay in IPL 2024 was taken to another level and by the end of the tournament ever franchise was looking for batsmen who could match the raw hitting power that KKR and SRH were generating while the field restrictions were on.

The below looks at the IPL squads and the options they have following December's Super Auction.

The stats for each side are based on the players most likely to occupy a top 3 batting position and cover all elite T20 matches those players have appeared in since the start of 2022.

The ranking itself is then based on a points system as follows

Points	Average	Strike Rate
1	Under 25	Under 120
2	25 - 35	120 - 140
3	35+	140+

overs 1-6 all T20 cricket since start of 2022

The points for the batsmen in each franchise are then added up and divided by the number of batsmen I've included. At the top of the pile we have SRH with an average rating of 2.75 while at the other end is CSK who average 2.0. As always, there is very little to choose between the 10 teams and past performance is not always a guarantee for the future ...

Sunrisers Hyderabad (1st)

Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma went about redefining what a good powerplay score was last season. Head, in particular, has been a man possessed at the top of the innings in T20 cricket and his strike rate of 193.2 in the powerplay since 2022 is by far the best amongst batsmen appearing in IPL 2025. Finding a way to get him out cheaply will be mission number 1 for all opposition teams.

Abhishek Sharma's form got him a spot in the Indian set-up and he's been a mainstay of their T20 side every since scoring 2 centuries in his first 16 innings for the national team.

SRH have further bolstered their top order options with the acquisition of Ishan Kishan who'll be keen to prove a point after a fairly average 2024 season which resulted in his release by MI.

Atharva Taide is an exciting prospect who will like enjoy the freedom with which SRH batsmen are encouraged to score.

Rajasthan Royals (2nd)

Jaiswal and Samson are 2 of the most watchable batsmen in the IPL and should form a fearsome combination at the top of the order.

What happens next is a little less certain. Nitesh Rana will be looking to rebuild his career at a new franchise after falling out of favour at KKR last year. The left-hander had a poor Syed Musthaq Ali trophy scoring just 111 runs in 9 innings.

If Rana isn't the man to make up the top 3 then RR might look at promoting the likes of Riyan Parag up the order after his successful 2024 season. Parag faced 384 balls in the 15 matches he played last season having faced 484 in the 54 games he'd played prior to that. He more than doubled his IPL run tally by moving higher up the order and might be ready for more...

Mumbai Indians (3rd)

Mumbai always seem to have one of the strongest looking batting line-ups in any IPL season and this year is no different. There are a few big names in this side who have a point to prove after they finished dead last in 2024.

Ryan Rickelton is one of the form players in world cricket at the moment, scoring runs in every format. He's the ideal replacement for Ishan Kishan and helps to keep the left hand, right hand balance throughout the top order that Mumbai always favour.

It'll be interesting to see who bats at 3. Rohit Sharma struck at 150 last season, his best strike rate in IPL season. Will Jacks' place in the side depends on how MI decide to utilise the other overseas picks in their side but a top 6 of the 5 above plus Hardik Pandya will certainly be exciting to watch especially at the Wankhede were the ball so often flies to and over the boundary.

Delhi Capitals (4th)

Delhi Capitals reinvented themselves in the 2nd half of IPL 2024 thanks to the brilliance of young Fraser-McGurk and Abishek Porel. Of players who have faced 10 or more overs in the powerplay since the start of 2022 only Travis Head is scoring at a faster rate than either in T20s.

Fraser-McGurk was incredibly consistent in the IPL last season but has since become very hit and miss. He scored a blistering 95 off 46 balls versus Brisbance Heat in this year's Big Bash having struggled to make any impact in all his other performances in the tournament.

To compliment the attacking flair of youth, DC have gone for the tried and trusted in KL Rahul and Faf du Plessis. KL Rahul has never been a power hitter in the powerplay but he should up his scoring now that he's moved away from Lucknow where the pitches were slow and the boundaries long.

Gujarat Titans (5th)

Gujarat have been dependant on Shubman Gill to do much of the heavy lifting at the top of the order since they joined the IPL. The addition of Jos Buttler is an obvious upgrade on the struggling Saha while Sai Sudharsan is consistent if not spectaculor at number 3.

As the graphic suggests, GT don't have many genuine options to replace those 3 if injury or poor form comes into play. Buttler is of course a highly experienced player and no batsmen has faced more powerplay deliveries in T20 cricket since the start of 2022 than him. However, it remains to be seen what impact the loss of the England captaincy will have on him.

The Narendra Modi can offer a bit of early movement too so having a solid start (by modern standards) is often preferable to teeing off from ball 1. All 3 of these GT batsmen are very capable of batting through an innings and that will be the tactic that the Titans will look to take throughout the campaign.

Lucknow Super Giants (6th)

LSG decided to stack their team with all-rounders and left-handed middle order players meaning that there are question marks over who exactly will open the batting for them.

Breetzke is the only out and out opener in their side although Mitch Marsh is quite capable of doing the job. With David Miller in the side it does mean that LSG can feel confident of pushing the likes of Pooran and Pant higher up the order without leaving themselves short later on.

Pooran had by far his most productive season in the IPL last year scoring 499 runs and often batting down the order. If he can replicate that kind of form batting at 3 then he could put up the kind of numbers necessary to get this LSG side back into the play-offs.

With the slowness of the Ekana pitch, it feels as though LSG need to be a bit more dynamic while the field is up than they have been of late and perhaps this line-up is better suited to that style than the players they had last season.

Punjab Kings (7th)

Another side where it's difficult to really pin down what their top order is going to look like.

Simran Singh has been a mainstay for the franchise for the last couple of seasons during which time he's struck at over 150 but innings of real substance have been a little too far apart for him to make a significant impact. At 24-years of age and with that experience behind him, he needs to step up to the plate and be the man who scores 400+ runs for his side in IPL 2025.

Who opens alongside him is then a big question? Inglis and Stoinis are on the list because they have done that job in the past but more recently and particularly for Stoinis in the IPL they've found themselves shifted down the order. Like Inglis, Hardie has no IPL experience so shoving him into the top 3 would be a gamble.

Does Shreyas Iyer have the power game to keep up with the scoring rates we saw in the first 6 overs of last season's IPL? The new Kings captain is likely to be the lynchpin of their batting so they won't want him taking on too many risks early-on.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (8th)

The fact that Virat Kohli managed to score 741 runs last season and yet RCB were consistently 2nd best shows you how much the league changed last year. Unfortunately, a strike rate of 135 in the powerplay is now average at best especially given that Kohli has plied his trade at one of the fastest scoring grounds in the country.

Phil Salt has been brought in to provide the kind of aggression that Kohli can't offer. The Englishman was very good for KKR last season but has had a pretty tough time of it more recently as part of a faltering England white ball team.

RCB will need both Kohli and Salt to be consistent performers because they don't have a great deal else as far as top order batsmen. Padikkal returns to the franchise after a period where he's largely been used as a middle order player. New captain Patidar has had a good season and a half in the IPL and might well find himself bumped up to number 3 to shoulder more responsibility.

Kolkata Knight Riders (9th)

Reigning champions KKR are ranked 2nd bottom for their powerplay batting. Whether that is an accurate portrayl of how things are depends very much on whether Sunil Narine can carry his IPL 2024 form into 2025.

Letting his partner in crime Phil Salt leave alongside captain Shreyas Iyer was a bit of an odd move and KKR's buys in the auction raised quite a few eyebrows. Rahane is a more than able captain and did get a new lease of life in the IPL with CSK. He'll need to hit the ground running to avoid a difficult selection issue presenting itself midway through the season.

Quinton de Kock has plenty of experience in this league and around the T20 circuit more generally but has failed to deliver the big runs at the top of the order that you'd expect of a player of his class. However, as with a few of the Lucknow batsmen, he'll be pretty happy to see the back of the slow low surfaces at the Ekana and instead now finds himself plying his trade on an Eden Gardens pitch which has seen a truck load of runs of late.

Chennai Super Kings (10th)

Captain Gaikwad is a certainty to open and it then looks like CSK will need to decide between which left-handed Kiwi to pair him with. Conway has generally been first choice and has far more experience batting in the powerplay in T20 cricket than Ravindra. However, Ravindra has already surplanted Conway in the New Zealand 50-over team and was the leading run-scorer at the recent Champions Trophy, playing as an opener.

His boundary striking ability certainly exceeds that of Conway whose S/R in the Powerplay of 114.7 is pedestrian at best. If Ravindra can transfer his 50-over form into the shortest format then he and Gaikwad could be an excellent opening combination but for now CSK look a bit off the pace compared to the rest of the league.

At 3, CSK look like they've going to try and resurrect the career of another Indian batsmen in the same way they did with Rahane. Both Tripathi and Hooda have played for India in T20s as recently as 2023 but both have endured a tough couple of seasons in the IPL. Neither set the world on fire during the recent Syed Musthaq Ali trophy so it'll be down to Flemming and co. to work their magic again.