Overview 

THE GUJARAT LIONS made it to the playoffs in their debut season and given their celebrated batting line-up are likely to find a place in the final four in 2017 too. Despite having explosive top-order batsmen in Aaron Finch, Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith, the Lions further added more meat to their batting by roping in English opener Jason Roy during the auction. However, on the bowling front, the Lions don't have great depth, especially in the overseas pace department and it will be interesting to see how the Gujarat team manages to restrict the damage.

Strength 

Given the credentials and accomplishments of Finch, McCullum, Roy and Smith, it will be very tough for the opposition to tighten the screws on the Lions. Although all four might not play at the same time, but the quality in the bench will always keep them in good stead. All these batsmen have been playing regular T20 cricket and the question of rustiness wouldn't be an issue either. Given the explosiveness of these blokes, Gujarat will fancy setting or chasing any score. 

Not many teams have impact all-rounders. But Gujarat are blessed to have the services of Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja and James Faulkner. These utility cricketers will bring more balance and depth to their squad. While it is unlikely that both Bravo and Faulkner might play together in the starting 11, Gujarat will have the liberty of rotating them. 

Weakness 

Barring Ravindra Jadeja, Gujarat don't have quality spinners in their ranks. After having released Pravin Tambe, they have to fall back to the likes of Shivil Kaushik (who can be unpredictable) and Shadab Jakati. Furthermore, both are left-arm spinners and the Lions could struggle for additional variety and variations. 

Also, on the fast bowling front, the Lions don't have great potency. Sure, the likes of Dhawal Kulkarni and Praveen Kumar did well for them last year, but considering the rustiness of Manpreet Gony and Munaf Patel, Gujarat might struggle to find adequate replacements if need be. Also, Nathu Singh is injury prone and it wouldn't be a surprise if he doesn't play even a single game. On the overseas front, Andrew Tye is the only pacer.

Raina Factor  

The Gujarat skipper was not in the best of forms last year (15 matches,399 runs,75 highest,3 fifties) but despite that the Lions could enter the final stages, owing to the explosive top-order. That said, Raina has arguably been one of the finest batsmen in the IPL over the past decade and he will be hungry to prove a point to the Gujarat fans and owners. The southpaw showed signs of coming back to form in the T20 series against England a month ago, and given his impressive numbers in this format, it is highly unlikely that he won't be at this very best come IPL-10.

TFG Verdict

Gujarat's bowling is far from being superior. However, like we saw in the previous season, the Lions' explosive batsmen and all-rounders will help them make the playoffs for the second time in a row. 

TEAM: Suresh Raina(C), Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Dhawal Kulkarni, Praveen Kumar, Ishan Kishan, Pradeep Sangwan, Shivil Kaushik, Shadab Jakati, Jaydev Shah, Basil Thambi, Manpreet Gony, Nathu Singh, Tejas Singh Baroka, Munaf Patel, Aksh Deep Nath, Shubham Agarwal, Chirag Suri, Pratham Singh, Shelley Shaurya, James Faulkner, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, Aaron Finch, Dwayne Smith, Andrew Tye, Jason Roy.

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