Clan-Members » 10 wins. In other words, dont count out the Wolverin

Royal Challengers Bangalores batting line-up contains Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Shane Watson – but Sky Sports IPL presenter, Matt Floyd, reckons they WON’T make the play-offs… Caught your breath back after that stunning finish to the World T20?Its going to be hard to top that but the IPL is probably the only tournament that might be able to - it was, after all, this giant of T20 entertainment that helped mould some of the stars who shone for their national sides in India. A large number of them have stayed on for IPL 9, an edition that will have a slightly different feel to it.Firstly, IPL wouldnt be IPL without some sort of front-page controversy in the off-season. To cut a long story short, Gurunath Meiyappan (ex-team principal of Chennai Super Kings) and Raj Kundra (former co-owner of Rajasthan Royals) were found to have been involved in betting activity and their teams have been suspended for two years.Obviously this came as a huge shock to many and it will seem a little odd not to see MS Dhoni masterminding another tight win in yellow or the Royals unearthing another local star from nowhere, but the show must go on and we have two new franchises.Dhoni will captain in a mixture of pink, purple and blue this time (think Harlequins rugby) as he was snapped up by the Rising Pune Supergiants. I know what you are thinking: What on earth is a Supergiant? No idea, but it sounds big.Anyway, Dhoni took CSK stalwarts Ravi Ashwin and Faf Du Plessis with him, and many are intrigued to see how he will handle Kevin Pietersen. Kevin Pietersen will play for Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016 Gujarat Lions are the other new team and arguably theyve done even better in the draft - captain Suresh Raina could have some hard decisions to make with a squad containing the likes of Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Dwayne Smith and Dale Steyn.Looking a little deeper at the two new squads, though, it suggests they may have been hampered by a lack of options overall, with the six other teams having already retained the players they wanted. How Pune and Gujarats unproven local players perform could be vital to their success. The IPL returns on Saturday with Mumbai Indians versus Rising Pune Supergiants. KP and Eoin Morgan are back but the ex-England international might get more game time than the current limited-overs skipper. The Supergiants look a little short on batting firepower so I expect KP to play an important role. Morgans Sunrisers, though, dont have the same issues.Only four overseas can play from Kane Williamson, Morgan, David Warner, Moises Henriques, Ben Cutting, Trent Boult and Mustafizur Rahman, and it may be that the Hyderabad franchise feel they need to go for a bowler or all-rounder ahead of the England captain. Hopefully not! Will Eoin Morgan get regular game time at Sunrisers? The other two Englishmen in the competition will have plenty of intrigued fans keeping an eye on their scores. but will Jos Buttler and Sam Billings see much game time? I reckon they will, especially Buttler.Reigning champions Mumbai are a very strong outfit but a) hes got an X factor rarely seen around the world and b) there is an injury cloud over Lasith Malinga. He couldnt have picked a tougher side to break into for a foreigner (barring RCB perhaps) but his stock is high after the World T20 and IPL 9 could be the time when he fully announces himself on the big stage.Billings will find it harder, especially as Delhi have two excellent keeper/batsmen in their squad in Quinton De Kock and Sanju Samson, but he could play as a specialist batsman as that is an area where the Daredevils look a little thin.So, whos going to take home the trophy? Looking at the squads it seems a bit of a lottery (every side has a few match-winners!), so Ill go with the usual tactic of favouring the best bowling attacks as stats will tell you they generally win tournaments. AB de Villiers adds to a powerful Bangalore batting line-up Royal Challengers undoubtedly have the best top three with Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers and theyve signed Shane Watson, but with no Mitchell Starc their bowling could potentially be toothless, so, at the risk of looking extremely stupid, I dont think theyll win it and may not even make the play-offs.Kolkata finished fifth last year and theyve hardly changed their squad but I fancy them to improve on that. Even if Sunil Narine isnt the force he once was they still have an impressive array of spinners to prosper on a pitch that usually takes turn - step forward Brad Hogg, Shakib Al Hasan, Piyush Chawla and Yusuf Pathan.Its hard to look past Mumbai as well and I reckon Sunrisers could spring a surprise - new signings Yuvraj Singh, Deepak Hooda, Ashish Nehra and Mustafizur could well drive them into the knock-out stage for the first time since 2013. Ill go for the Gujarat Lions as the final team to go through as theyve got some great all-round options.It all kicks off with a bang on Saturday as Mumbai Indians take on Rising Pune Supergiants at the Wankhede Stadium. Champs v Newbies, Buttler v KP, Rohit v Dhoni. Well see you then!Sky Sports is the only place you can watch all the action from the 2016 IPL, starting on Saturday as Kevin Pietersen and the Rising Pune Supergiants face defending chapions Mumbai Indians, including Englands Jos Buttler, live on Sky Sports 3 from 3pm. Or watch live without a contract, on NOW TV. Also See: Best of Buttler Kevin Pietersens year IPL: How to watch Johnson pumped for IPL Gus Williams Jersey .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. Patrick Ewing Jersey . LOUIS -- Rookie Tavon Austin has missed another day of practice, lessening the odds hell be ready for the St. https://www.supersonicsjerseys.com/380s-desmond-mason-jersey-supersonics.html . -- Hunter Smith scored the winner with just 12 seconds remaining in the third period as the Oshawa Generals edged the host Sarnia Sting 5-4 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Brent Barry Jersey .35 million, one-year contract that avoided salary arbitration. Plouffe batted .254 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs in 477 at-bats last season, his second as a regular in the lineup. Lenny Wilkens Jersey . The 43-year-old closer, in his 19th and final big league season, has said hed like to play the outfield. Yankees manager Joe Girardi says hes thinking about allowing Rivera to do it this weekend, when the Yankees finish their season with a three-game series at the Houston Astros. Buoyed by its convincing win over Washington State in the Apple Cup, Washington reappeared in the top four this week of the College Football Playoff selection committees rankings.The Huskies, though, might not want to get too comfortable there. Not yet, anyway.The Big Ten is still positioned to potentially get two teams into the playoff, which could be bad news for Washington.Ohio State, coming off a 30-27, double-overtime win over Michigan, remained No. 2 this week. Clemson was No. 3 and can clinch a spot in the playoff with a win over Virginia Tech on Saturday in the ACC championship game. The Buckeyes will be watching from home this weekend, which could create a difficult decision for the committee.No. 7 Penn State will face No. 6 Wisconsin in Saturdays Big Ten championship game, and things could get interesting if Penn State beats Wisconsin. Not only would the Nittany Lions add another top-10 win to their résumé, but theyd lock up the Big Ten championship and have a head-to-head win over Ohio State, a game that was played on Oct. 22 and not during the first few weeks of the season.From the day the College Football Playoff became a reality, weve heard about the importance of conference championships, head-to-head results and schedule strength.Granted, Ohio State would have one fewer loss than Penn State in the above scenario, but would the committee -- after applying the conference championship quotient -- be impressed enough, unequivocally so, with the Buckeyes that they would opt for Ohio State over Penn State, even though the Nittany Lions would own the conference championship and the head-to-head win over the Buckeyes?Heres why unequivocally is in quotes: For a nonconference champion to get in over a conference champion, the committees protocol states that it has to believe the nonconference champiion is unequivocally better than the conference champion.ddddddddddddo even with a win over Colorado in the Pac-12 championship game on Friday, Washington is probably going to have to sweat it out until the final rankings are released Sunday. The Huskies weak nonconference schedule could be what costs them if its close with one of the Big Ten teams. Their nonconference slate was ranked 127th out of 128 FBS teams. Their three nonconference wins were over Rutgers, Idaho and Portland State.Colorado would be a long shot if the Buffaloes beat Washington in the Pac-12 championship game, but one of their chief stumbling blocks would be Michigan. The Wolverines, who dropped to No. 5 in this weeks rankings, beat the Buffaloes back in September and own three top-10 wins. In other words, dont count out the Wolverines.The Big 12 remains on the outside looking in and will need an upset or two in one of the other conference championship games to have any shot at the playoff. No. 9 Oklahoma (9-2, 8-0 Big 12) and No. 10 Oklahoma State (9-2, 7-1 Big 12) square off on Saturday in Norman in what amounts to a de facto Big 12 championship game. Keep in mind that Oklahoma lost 45-24 at home to Ohio State back in September, so a scenario in which the Sooners would get in over the Buckeyes seems unlikely.Another interesting development in the latest rankings is No. 12 Florida State being ahead of No. 13 Louisville, even though the Cardinals routed the Seminoles 63-20 during the regular season and are two games ahead of the Cardinals in the ACC standings.Also, it appears that No. 14 Auburn is in the drivers seat to get a Sugar Bowl bid. The Tigers are the SECs highest-ranked team behind No. 1 Alabama. ' ' '