IPL 2022: Which England players could light up tournament? What has changed since 2021? | Cricket News

The Indian Premier League is back for another season and, as has become customary, there is no shortage of Englishmen.

Nine English players will take part in this year’s tournament – Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Sam Billings, David Willey, Tymal Mills and Benny Howell.

Bairstow, Livingstone and Howell will link up at Punjab Kings, who remain one of just three current sides – Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals being the others – never to win the title. If Bairstow and Livingstone get going, though, Kings may have a decent shot as they are two of the most destructive white-ball batters around.

Bairstow has proved himself in the IPL before over three seasons with Sunrisers Hyderabad, including in 2019 when he cracked a 56-ball 114.

Livingstone did not light up the competition over two campaigns with Rajasthan Royals but he owns the record for England’s fastest international century – a 42-ball T20 ton against Pakistan – and creamed 10 sixes in an innings for Birmingham Phoenix against Northern Superchargers in last year’s Hundred competition.

No wonder Kings forked out a whopping £1.1m for him!

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Liam Livingstone smashed England’s fastest-ever international hundred, from just 42 balls, against Pakistan at Trent Bridge last summer

Livingstone is also more than useful with the ball, bowling both leg-spin and off-spin, while Gloucestershire all-rounder Howell will hope to show the bowling variations he has made his trademark in county cricket.

Buttler stays with Rajasthan Royals, one of only two England players, along with Chennai Super Kings’ Moeen Ali, to be retained by their 2021 teams.

Buttler’s Test future may be unclear – he lost his England spot to Ben Foakes for the ongoing series in the West Indies – but you would struggle to find a more sought-after white-ball batter, with 2021 seeing the 31-year-old score his first T20 centuries, for Rajasthan against Sunrisers in the IPL and for England against Sri Lanka in the World Cup.

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Jos Buttler smoked 124 from just 64 balls for Rajasthan Royals against Sunrisers Hyderabad last season, hitting eight sixes and 11 fours in his first T20 hundred

Moeen, meanwhile, will be aiming to carry on from a fine 2021 campaign with CSK. The all-rounder has often been bounced around the order by England but seemed to relish batting in the top four for Chennai, principally at No 3, providing a number of important contributions while amassing over 350 runs at a strike-rate of 137.30. Off-spinner Moeen also chipped in with six wickets, including a best of 3-7, at a run rate below 6.50.

England all-rounder Moeen Ali was a major part of Chennai’s success last term

Seamer Jordan was released by Kings before being snapped up by CSK in the auction. Jordan has long been viewed as England’s T20 death-bowling specialist but was a bit off in that discipline during the World Cup semi-final loss against New Zealand and in the recent series in the West Indies. He will look to rediscover those skills if he plays for Chennai.

England white-ball captain Eoin Morgan was dropped by Kolkata Knight Riders despite leading them to last year’s final, though that was due to his lean form with the bat – 133 runs in 16 innings, including four ducks, at an average of 11.08 – as opposed to a reflection of his leadership skills.

Eoin Morgan captained Kolkata to the IPL final last season but struggled with the bat and went unsold at this year’s auction

However, Kolkata have signed Billings for this campaign, with the Kent captain now at his third IPL franchise after stints at Chennai and Delhi. Alex Hales was also due to play for KKR but subsequently pulled out, citing bubble fatigue. All-rounder, Willey, meanwhile has been acquired by RCB

Elsewhere, five-time champions Mumbai Indians have picked up Mills for now – and Jofra Archer for the future.

Sussex left-armer Mills is one of the best death bowlers around, with an ability to bowl rapidly but he also sends down a raft of slower balls. After a career blighted by injury, he is now back in the England white-ball fold.

Jofra Archer will miss the 2022 IPL through injury but Mumbai have acquired him with 2023 and 2024 in mind

Sussex team-mate Archer is a key man for England in all formats but has not played since the summer of 2021 due to an elbow issue. The fast bowler is still recovering from that injury and will not be available for the 2022 IPL, not that that stopped Mumbai acquiring his services in the auction.

The five-time champions have taken a long-term approach with Archer, who was named IPL MVP in 2020 while playing for Rajasthan, in large part down to his 20 wickets and 175 dot balls. Mumbai plan to pair the paceman with Jasprit Bumrah during the 2023 and 2024 editions. Good luck, batters!

The two new IPL franchises, Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants, were due to have an English player apiece but batter Jason Roy withdrew from his spell with Titans in order to spend time with his family, while a right elbow issue put paid to fast bowler Mark Wood’s stint with Super Giants.

What’s new for 2022?

New teams – and a new format

The IPL is now the biggest it has ever been with the additions of Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants making it a 10-team tournament. There is also a changed format to the double round robin league phase that was in operation before, with the 10 sides now split into two groups of five.

Group A: Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals, Lucknow Super Giants

Group B: Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings, Gujarat Titans

Each team plays 14 league matches, facing the other four teams in their group twice, four teams in the other pool once and the remaining team twice. The top four sides overall will make the play-offs, just as was the case previously.

Virat Kohli has stepped down as captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore with Faf du Plessis now leading the side

Kohli, Dhoni no longer captains

Kohli’s quest to captain Royal Challengers Bangalore to an elusive first IPL title is now over, with the Indian stepping down from the role and handing over to South Africa’s Faf du Plessis.

MS Dhoni has also relinquished the captaincy of defending champions Chennai, with that decision announced two days before the tournament. Ravindra Jadeja is the new man at the helm for CSK.

Dhoni led Chennai to four IPL titles during his time in charge, in 2010, 2011, 2018 and then again last year when they beat Kolkata in the final.

De Villiers and Harbhajan retire

The RCB batting line-up now has a massive AB de Villiers-sized hole in it, with the great South African, 38, calling time on his career in October of last year. He spent 11 years at RCB, amassing close to 4,500 runs in 156 appearances, including 37 half-centuries and two hundreds.

There will also be no Harbhajan Singh this year with the off-spinner retiring in December at the age of 41. Harbhajan is the fifth-most successful bowler in IPL history, with 150 wickets, and won the tournament on four occasions, three times with Mumbai and once with Chennai.

IPL squads for 2022 (overseas players in bold)

MS Dhoni has handed over the captaincy of Chennai to Ravindra Jadeja

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

Ravindra Jadeja (captain), MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali (England), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Dwayne Bravo (West Indies), Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Maheesh Theekshana (Sri Lanka), Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Simarjeet Singh, Devon Conway (New Zealand), Dwaine Pretorius (South Africa), Mitchell Santner (New Zealand), Adam Milne (New Zealand), Subhranshu Senapati, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, C Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan, Chris Jordan (England), K Bhagath Varma

2021 result: Champions (beat Kolkata Knight Riders in the final)
Best finish: Winners x 4 (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021)
Coach: Stephen Fleming

DELHI CAPITALS

Rishabh Pant (captain), Prithvi Shaw, Axar Patel, Anrich Nortje (South Africa), David Warner (Australia), Mitch Marsh (Australia), Shardul Thakur, Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh), Kuldeep Yadav, Ashwin Hebbar, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, KS Bharat, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, Lalit Yadav, Ripal Patel, Yash Dhull, Rovman Powell (West Indies), Pravin Dubey, Lungi Ngidi (South Africa), Tim Seifert (New Zealand), Vicky Ostwal

2021 result: 3rd (topped group stage before losing both play-off matches)
Best finish: Runners-up (2020)
Coach: Ricky Ponting

GUJARAT TITANS

Hardik Pandya (captain), Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Afghanistan), Mohammad Shami, Lockie Ferguson (New Zealand), Abhinav Sadarangani, Rahul Tewatia, Noor Ahmad (Afghanistan), R Sai Kishore, Dominic Drakes (West Indies), Jayant Yadav, Viijay Shankar, Darshan Nalkande, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph (West Indies), Prandeep Sangwan, David Miller (South Africa), Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade (Australia), Gurkeerat Singh, Varun Aaron

2021 result: N/A
Best finish: N/A
Coach: Ashish Nehra

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

Shreyas Iyer (captain), Sunil Narine (West Indies), Andre Russell (West Indies), Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Pat Cummins (Australia), Nitish Rana, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, Baba Indrajith, Chamika Karunaratne (Sri Lanka), Abhijeet Tomar, Pratham Singh, Ashok Sharma, Sam Billings (England), Aaron Finch (Australia), Tim Southee (New Zealand), Ramesh Kumar, Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan), Umesh Yadav

2021 result: Runners-up (lost to Chennai Super Kings in the final)
Best finish: Winners x 2 (2012, 2014)
Coach: Brendon McCullum

West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell has been retained by Kolkata Knight Riders

LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS

KL Rahul (captain), Marcus Stoinis (Australia), Ravi Bishnoi, Quinton de Kock (South Africa), Manish Pandey, Jason Holder (West Indies), Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Avesh Khan, Ankit Rajpoot, K Gowtham, Dushmanta Chameera (Sri Lanka), Shahbaz Nadeem, Manan Vohra, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers (West Indies), Karan Sharma, Evin Lewis (West Indies), Mayank Yadav, B Sai Sudharsan, Andrew Tye (Australia)

2021 result: N/A
Best finish: N/A
Coach: Andy Flower

MUMBAI INDIANS

Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard (West Indies), Ishan Kishan, Dewald Brevis (South Africa), Basil Thampi, Murugan Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, N Tilak Varma, Sanjay Yadav, Jofra Archer (England), Daniel Sams (Australia), Tymal Mills (England), Tim David (Singapore), Riley Meredith (Australia), Mohammad Arshad Khan, Anmolpreet Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Rahul Buddhi, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Aryan Juyal, Fabian Allen (West Indies)

2021 result: 5th (failed to make play-offs)
Best finish: Winners x 5 (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020)
Coach: Mahela Jayawardene

PUNJAB KINGS

Mayank Agarwal (captain), Arshdeep Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada (South Africa), Jonny Bairstow (England), Rahul Chahar, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone (England), Odean Smith (West Indies), Sandeep Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis (Australia), Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (Sri Lanka), Benny Howell (England)

2021 result: 6th (failed to make play-offs)
Best finish: Runners-up (2014)
Coach: Anil Kumble

RAJASTHAN ROYALS

Sanju Samson (captain), Jos Buttler (England), Yashasvi Jaiswal, R Ashwin, Trent Boult (New Zealand), Shimron Hetmyer (West Indies), Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy (West Indies), Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, Jimmy Neesham (New Zealand), Nathan Coulter-Nile (Australia), Rassie van der Dussen (South Africa), Daryl Mitchell (New Zealand)

2021 result: 7th (failed to make play-offs)
Best finish: Winners (2008)
Coach: Trevor Penney

Glenn Maxwell impressed for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2021 IPL

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE

Faf du Plessis (South Africa, captain), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell (Australia), Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga (Sri Lanka), Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, Shahbaz Ahamad, Akash Deep, Josh Hazlewood (Australia), Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen (New Zealand), Sherfane Rutherford (West Indies), Jason Behrendorff (Australia), Suyash Prabhudessai, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma, Siddharth Kaul, Luvnith Sisodia, David Willey (England)

2021 result: 4th (lost in the play-offs)
Best finish: Runners-up x 3 (2009, 2011, 2016)
Coach: Sanjay Bangar

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD

Kane Williamson (New Zealand, captain), Abdul Samad, Umran Malik, Washington Sundar, Nicholas Pooran (West Indies), T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Priyam Garg, Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma, Kartik Tyagi, Shreyas Gopal, Jagadeesha Suchith, Aiden Markram (South Africa), Marco Jansen (South Africa), Romario Shepherd (West Indies), Sean Abbott (Australia), R Samarth, Shashank Singh, Saurabh Dubey, Vishnu Vinod, Glenn Phillips (New Zealand), Fazalhaq Farooqi (Afghanistan)

2021 result: 8th (failed to make play-offs)
Best finish: Winners (2016)
Coach: Trevor Bayliss

Watch the 2022 Indian Premier League live and in full on Sky Sports, starting with Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders from 1.50pm on Saturday on Sky Sports World Cup (Sky channel 404).