The all-important phase when best players will leave for their national duties ahead of this year's ICC Cricket World Cup could well decide the fortunes of each Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise in the forthcoming season, said former Australian pacer and Kings XI Punjab bowling coach, Ryan Harris.
Harris acknowledged Chennai Super Kings as massive favourites to lift the prestigious title again but pointed out that the dynamic nature of challenges this year will even test the underbelly of MS Dhoni-led side.
"Well, it is tough to look past CSK They are the reigning champions and they have a good squad. I will say Mumbai Indians will also be tough opponents. But, with the World Cup coming up, teams will lose players and it will come down to which team can recover in time," he told Hindustan Times.
Talking about his own team's preparation for this season where Kings XI Punjab will open their campaign against Rajasthan Royals on March 25, Harris said, "It’s quite good. We had a couple of practice games and the team is looking in shape. The squad is slowly coming together and though we are missing some of the guys - couple in Australia and David Miller for South Africa - because of their different commitments, it is looking good for us so far."
"We want to make sure that we are consistent and we want to start the season well. We had a good start last year as well but we dropped the ball. We have to make sure that we maintain consistency and confidence. We know that we will lose some games but we needed to learn from those defeats and try to improve ourselves and focus on the next games."
Harris is also quite content with the balance of his side for this season, something which was hugely missing last year from a team captained by a bowler in premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
"I think it is going to be somewhat similar," he added. "We have a good bowling attack but our batting is looking great with Mayank (Agarwal), KL (Rahul) and (Chris) Gayle. We have a lot of firepower at the top of the batting order. But bowling will also be good with Ankit Rajpoot looking in good shape."
"I can actually give you a few. KL looks like he is really focused and that is very important in a big tournament. Gayle is also there with him and we all know what he is capable of," Harris concluded.
