IPL 2018: One player each from 7 teams whose batting position should be changed

The 11th edition of Indian Premier League began on 7th of April in Mumbai this year. This year's competition seems to be the most closely fought league with a number of teams competing closely for the playoffs while quality sides like Bengaluru and Mumbai are struggling.

The 11th season of IPL is going to be a well-fought competition and some small changes can help the teams perform better. One of the most important change that the teams should make is playing the right players at the right position.

Indian Premier League's history has shown us that the batting position often determines the success rate of a number of batsmen. Some players have the ability to hit the ball big and are capable of playing the role of finisher while there are others who require the help of powerplay overs to get going, so it is important to get the batsmen to play in positions which suit them.

Of the 8 teams in IPL this year Sunrisers Hyderabad seems to be the only team which has got its batting order correct and it is reaping dividends for the same with three victories in three matches. All the other teams can tinker their batting order a bit to get better results.

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Delhi Daredevils- Shreyas Iyer

Iyer is a quality player at number 3

Delhi Daredevils is one of the teams in Indian Premier League which has become synonymous with underperformance. The side always had some impressive players in the team but has always underperformed and this year is turning out to be a no exception.

The team has shuffled the batting order way too much for batsmen's comfort and the biggest victim of this continuous churning has been Shreyas Iyer. He had performed brilliantly for the Delhi team last year and was retained by them on the basis of those performances but this year he has been pushed up and down the batting order and he doesn't have a fixed batting position.

Iyer is one of the best players in domestic cricket at present. He is not a big hitter of the ball but he has the gift of timing to help him play all the three formats of the game. He is a great batsman at number 3 and it would serve the team well if he plays at the position.

Kings XI Punjab- Aaron Finch

Finch has been struggling in the middle order

Punjab is another team which has never won an IPL title in the history of the competition. Kings XI Punjab would be looking to make history this year and they have got an able leader in Ravichandran Ashwin who is capable of doing it.

Ashwin has captained his side brilliantly but one change which he should make to increase the effectiveness of his team is to change Finch's batting position. Aaron Finch is best suited for batting at the top of the order but with Gayle, Rahul and Mayank Agarwal in the form of their lives it is difficult to have Finch in the top order.

With that being the case Finch is better suited to be a finisher than a middle order batsman as he has problems in tackling spin from the first ball. Ashwin can promote Karun Nair and ask Finch to play the role of finisher. Finch is a big hitter of the ball and has the ability to smash fast bowlers in the death overs and this move would also solve Punjab's finishing woes.

Rajasthan Royals- Rahul Tripathi

Samson and Tripathi need to play in the top 3

Rajasthan Royals have made a comeback into the Indian Premier League after a gap of 4 years. The 11th season didn't begin well for the side with their captain Steve Smith being banned for a year.

Rajasthan appointed Rahane as the captain of their team for this year. Rahane is a calm and a composed batsman but his captaincy hasn't been characteristic of him. He seems to have got his batting order wrong and the batsmen are underperforming as a result.

Rahul Tripathi has been the biggest casualty of this mistake. He was a great success at the top of the order in Pune but Rahane has preferred to use him as a finisher. Tripathi seems to be struggling with his new role of finisher while Stokes who has been promoted to play at number 3 position has been struggling in building the innings. A swap between these players would help both the players and the team

Kolkata Knight Riders- Shubman Gill

Gill can be a great opener for KKR

Kolkata Knight Riders had emerged from this year's auction as the weakest batting side. The team lacked experienced players in the middle order and had only talented rookies along with the captain Dinesh Karthik to help the team get to a strong total.

Kolkata Knight Riders have struggled with the brittle middle order and have used Narine at the top to lengthen their batting order. Shubman Gill is a talented player but at the age of 19 one cannot expect him to clear the boundaries at will and he cannot be expected to play the role of a finisher at this age.

Gill is an exceptionally talented youngster who is capable of playing all the shots in the batting manual. Gill will prove to be a useful batsman for the team if he is used at the top of the order. He can use the powerplay overs to get himself going and once he gets his eyes set he can perform better in the middle overs. This move would also lengthen the batting order of Kolkata Knight Riders and would help Dinesh to use Russell as an out and out finisher.

Royal Challengers Bangalore- Brendon McCullum

McCullum can be a great finisher for RCB

Royal Challengers Bangalore is a team which is synonymous with big-hitting batsmen in the team. The team has always had a plethora of batsmen and sometimes the team is spoilt for choices and end up using batsmen at inappropriate batting positions.

Shane Watson experienced this problem when he was at Bangalore. McCullum has got to play in his favorite position as Kohli has dropped himself down the order to accommodate McCullum but McCullum seems to be struggling with his game at the top.

The Kiwi keeper is comfortable against pace bowling but has been struggling in tackling the spinners. Opposition teams are deploying spinners early in the attack to get him out cheaply. It would serve the team well if Kohli promotes himself to open the batting and use McCullum as the team's finisher.

Kohli can solve multiple problems by using McCullum as the finisher. He gives himself more overs to control the game and this move would also help the team as Sarfraz Khan has been unable to play the role of a finisher and the team has been struggling without a finisher.

Mumbai Indians- Rohit Sharma

Rohit needs to come good for Mumbai to start winning

Mumbai Indians are the defending champions of this year's IPL and were one of the favorites to win the title this year as well. The team though has had a poor start to the season losing three out of three games.

The biggest reason for these defeats has been the non-performance of the captain. The fortunes of Mumbai Indians are often interlinked with the performance of their captain Rohit Sharma and it is therefore important for him to step up.

Rohit opened the innings for Mumbai Indians in the first two games with little success. He then demoted himself down the order and played Suryakumar Yadav at the top. Though the move was a huge success it didn't change the fortunes of the Mumbai side.

Rohit is the best batsman of the Mumbai team and he is most comfortable when he plays at the top. His demotion down the order wouldn't do him any good as he isn't comfortable staring his innings against spin.

Being the most important batsman of the team Rohit should open the innings and give himself two overs to win the match for his side

Chennai Super Kings- MS Dhoni

Dhoni was at his best against Punjab

Chennai Super Kings is another side which is making a comeback into the Indian Premier League after a gap of two years. While the team has got off to a great start in terms of winning two of its three games, it has suffered from injuries to its star players.

Kedhar Jadhav has been ruled out of IPL and Raina has been ruled out for two games. Du Plessis hasn't played a single game till now due to his finger injury and Vijay too was injured for the initial two games.

MS Dhoni proved the world what he is capable of in their last match against Punjab. It was possible because he gave himself more than 10 overs to control the game. It allowed him to settle down and then play the characteristic Dhoni knock in the end.

With Raina being injured Dhoni should bat at number 3 or number 4 to give himself more overs. Once he gets his eye in he has the ability to hit any bowler out of the park.

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