In this episode of the show, Binksy, Jamie, Baldy and Stu kick off the IPL 2025 coverage by previewing the fortunes of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings.

We start with a Baldy explainer, and a quick chat about the impact of the mega auction, before moving straight into the team previews. We discuss what excites us about our chosen teams, whether that's particular players or team storylines, and whether they'll be in title contention come the business end of the tournament.

First up is KKR, in which Binksy asks why they aren't favourites with the betting agencies, highlights the importance of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine again, as well as the talented Indian bowling core featuring the likes of Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora. There's also a word on Ajinkya Rahane taking over as captain.

Next is Sunrisers Hyderabad, in which Stu gets excited about songs, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, the power-packed batting lineup and bowling reinforcements, before asking whether this team can go one better in 2025.

For the Rajasthan Royals, the absence of Jos Buttler is the question on our minds. Without him and others, they look weaker and the betting agencies have written them off. But can Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal and co. make those odds look silly when the winners medals are handed out at the end of May?

The Mumbai Indians are up fourth, and Baldy proceeds with caution when discussing their favouritism with the bookmakers. Will the star-studded batting lineup featuring Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya and friends deliver in 2025? Or will the absence of Jasprit Bumrah - for how long? - be too difficult to overcome with the ball in hand?

To round out part one of our preview, Jamie takes a look at CSK, highlighting the plethora of options their allrounder-packed squad provides them. What role will Rachin Ravindra play? Will MS Dhoni continue his six-hitting exploits? And when the team does settle on a best XI, will it be strong enough to take them to the final?

We'll be back in your feed again at the end of the week with the second episode of our IPL 2025 Preview. Until then please take the time to give us a like, follow, share or subscribe on all our channels (@toporderpod on Twitter & Facebook, and @thetoporderpodcast on Instagram & YouTube) and a (5-Star!) review at your favourite podcast provider, or tell a friend to download. It really helps others find the show and is the best thing you can do to support us. You can also find all our written content, including our Hall of Fame series, at our website.

You can also dip back into our guest episodes - including conversations with Mike Hesson, Shane Bond and Mike Hussey, current players such as Matt Henry, Sophie Devine and Ish Sodhi, coaches Gary Stead, Jeetan Patel and Luke Wright, as well as Barry Richards, Frankie Mackay, Bharat Sundaresan and many more fascinating people from all across the cricketing world. And if you'd like to reach out to us with feedback, questions or guest suggestions, get in touch at [email protected].

Thanks for listening.

0:00 Intro

4:20 Impact of mega-auction on overseas fans

7:00 Kolkata Knight Riders

14:05 Sunrisers Hyderabad

21:30 Rajasthan Royals

28:50 Mumbai Indians

37:30 Chennai Super Kings

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