|| India Correspondent ||

The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to begin from the 9th of April. While India's international series has just finished where India had a series win, fans are gearing up for the most-awaited tournament also which will be played in six venues across the country.

While the two-time defending champion Mumbai Indians will try to maintain their winning streak, Virat Kohli-led RoyalChallengers Bangalore will fight for their maiden title. And, who doesn't know how competitive the side of Chennai Super Kings is? After having a rather forgettable series last year where they finished at seventh and failed to qualify for the IPL playoffs for the very first time, the MS Dhoni-led side will try to bring their glory back as well.

Teams featuring in IPL 2021:

1. Mumbai Indians:

Mumbai Indians are the most successful team in the history of the IPL. They have won the trophy a record fifth times last year. They won the IPL in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. They will be aiming to make it a hat-trick of IPL wins in a row this season as well.

Squad:

Rohit Sharma (C), Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Nathan Coulter Nile, Ishan Kishan, Dhawal Kulkarni, Adam Milne, James Neesham, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Jayant Yadav, Yudhvir Singh, Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Aditya Tare, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Mohsin Khan, Chris Lynn, Marco Jansen, Quinton De Kock, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Anmolpreet Singh

2. Chennai Super Kings:

Chennai Super Kings have won the title thrice, in 2010, 2011, and 2018. They also hold the record for most appearances in the IPL playoffs and the most finals as well. However, before the 2020 edition, they have qualified for the playoffs in every season, excluding two years when they were banned. With a few new faces, they will try to get back their past glory.

Squad:

MS Dhoni (C), Ambati Rayudu, KM Asif, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Narayan Jagadeesan, Josh Hazlewood, Karn Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, R Sai Kishore, Ravindra Jadeja, Robin Uthappa, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, Suresh Raina, Moeen Ali, K Gowtham, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harishankar Reddy, C Hari Nishaanth, Bhagath Verma

3. Kolkata Knight Riders:

Kolkata Knight Riders have won the title twice - in 2012 and 2014. Both these wins came under the leadership of when Gautam Gambhir. England's World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan is the captain of KKR now, who replaced Dinesh Karthik in the mid-season of IPL 2020.

Squad:

Eoin Morgan (C), Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Venkatesh Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Sunil Narine, Prasidh Krishna, Andre Russell, Tim Seifert, Shivam Mavi, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill, Shakib Al Hasan, Sandeep Warrier, Nitish Rana, Pawan Negi, Karun Nair, Kuldeep Yadav, Sheldon Jackson, Harbhajan Singh, Ben Cutting, Vaibhav Arora

4. Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals won the first edition of the IPL in 2008 under the captaincy of Shane Warne. This time the team will be led by Sanju Samson following Steve Smith's release.

Squad:

Sanju Samson (C), Kuldip Yadav, Ben Stokes, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, Chris Morris, Andrew Tye, Akash Singh, Kartik Tyagi, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Jaydev Unadkat, Chetan Sakariya, Mayank Markande, Shivam Dube, KC Cariappa, Mahipal Lomror, Mustafizur Rahman, David Miller, Liam Livingstone, Jos Buttler, Manan Vohra, Riyan Parag

5. Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad has won the IPL title only once in 2016. With the presence of quality players like David Warner, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, they will try to win their second IPL title.

Squad:

David Warner (C), Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jason Holder, Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Mohammad Nabi, Priyam Garg, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddharth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar, Virat Singh, Wriddhiman Saha, Jagadeesha Suchith, Kedar Jadhav, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Jason Roy

6. Royal Challengers Bangalore

The Virat Kohli-led team is one of the three teams that have never won an IPL title yet. RCB has finished three times as runners-up - in 2009, 2011, and 2016.

Squad:

Virat Kohli (C), Devdutt Padikkal, Sachin Baby, Rajat Patidar, Suyash Prabhudessai, Finn Allen, Pavan Deshpande, Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christian, AB De Villiers, Josh Phillippe, Mohammad Azharuddeen, KS Bharat, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Adam Zampa, Shahbaz Ahmed, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Harshal Patel, Kyle Jamieson

7. Delhi Capitals

Last year, Delhi Capitals had qualified for the IPL final for the very first time under Shreyas Iyer. However, Delhi Capitals will be led by Rishabh Pant this year in the absence of Shreyas Iyer, who has been ruled out for the entire season.

Squad:

Rishabh Pant (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shimrorn Hetmyer, Steve Smith, Ripal Patel, Lalit Yadav, Chris Woakes, Axar Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Pravin Dubey, Sam Billings, Vishnu Vinod, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Manimaran Siddharth, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Tom Curran, Lukman Meriwala