The opening match of IPL season 5 between the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians rather surprisingly turned out to be a one sided affair as the Indians dominated the game from start to finish thanks to some poor batting from Chennai and a powerful 50 off 35 balls from debutant Richard Levi that took the match away from Dhoni's men completely. After being put in to bat, Chennai failed to cope with a relaid pitch, laden with live grass as they folded for a paltry 112 all out in 19.5 overs. Mumbai romped home by 8-wickets to register a crushing first win.

The first game of Season 5 of the Indian Premier League between two champion teams - Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians kicked off at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday night in front of a full house. On a strange Chennai wicket that was laden with a sizeable amount of live grass, the new MI captain Harbhajan Singh elected to field first on winning the toss. South Africa's explosive opener Richard Levi made his IPL debut and in the absence of Aussie pacer Mitchell Johnson, who wasn't match fit, Kiwi James Franklin held his place in the side. Chennai went in batting heavy with two genuine all-rounders in Albie Morkel and Dwayne Bravo filling in the bowling needs.

It wouldn't be unfair to say that the Kings XI Punjab are the underdogs for IPL's season 5 with the low profile nature of several of their players. However, if there is one thing that the IPL has taught its viewers, it is that no game is won on paper and teams written off at the start of the tournament have often proved to be more than capable of pulling off the unthinkable. This team under its captain and coach Adam Gilchrist did very well last season, surpassing the expectations of even their most ardent supporters. They will be hoping to do so yet again and provide some exciting cricket. The core of the side remains largely the same as last season with a couple of exits and additions to the overall set up.

Batting:

The batting of the Kings XI will be lead from the front by skipper Adam Gilchrist at the top of the order along with his countrymen Shaun Marsh and David Hussey. They will be adequately supported by the inexperienced and exciting trio of Paul Valthaty, Paras Dogra and Sunny Singh who played important roles last season too. The middle order will be occupied by the all-rounders Azhar Mahmood, Dimitri Mascerenhas and Abhishek Nayar. Youngsters Vikramjeet Malik and Mandeep Singh possess a lot of potential and cannot be taken for granted either. The likes of Rajgopal Satish will be handy in this format with his exceptional fielding skills and innovative batting methods while South African David Miller too has extended his contract with franchisee and will be looking to play his part lower down the order if needed.

The Rajasthan Royals have been the least talked about franchisee in the first 4 seasons of the IPL but with the help of their inspirational and charismatic captain Shane Warne, they have managed to pull off quite a few surprises in this extravanganza, including a phenomenal title win in the inaugural edition. They will be without the legendary leggie's services from here on in on the field, but with yet another stalwart in Rahul Dravid taking up the reins this season, one can be assured of yet another hope filled season for the royals. The recently retired Dravid will now be free from international pressures and could well relish the job of leading a side capable of unearthing some exciting talent from time to time.

Batting:

The Royals, having trimmed their squad for this season, have limited options to fall upon but these resources can be undermined only at one's own peril keeping in mind what they have managed to pull off in the previous editions. Rahul Dravid, Shane Watson, Brad Hodge and Dinesh Chandimal are expected to be the mainstays of this batting unit that is otherwise filled with plenty of all round options. South Africa's Johan Botha, as he showed last year could be more than useful with bat along with the likes of Indian youngsters like Ashok Menaria, Ajinkya Rahane, Faiz Fazal and the hard hitting Stuart Binny. The standby foreign players in Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah are likely to be available for the entire season and therefore could make a significant impact this season. Besides some more options in the likes of Aakash Chopra, Amit Paunikar could be handy for Dravid on the batting front.

The Delhi Daredevils have been a bit of a flop show in the first four seasons of the IPL after failing to live up to their immense potential. This season though they hope to re-ignite some hopes by challenging for the title and like before they seem to have the personnel to do it. The addition of seasoned campaigner Mahela Jayawardene could go a long way in correcting things and his expertise as the captain of the Sri Lankan team and his astute cricketing brain will be of immense help to Virender Sehwag, the captain of the Daredevils.

Batting:

The Daredevils batting looks a handful with the likes of David Warner and Virender Sehwag at the top and Mahela Jayawardene and Kevin Pietersen leading the middle order. They also have some good Local batsmen in young Unmukt Chand, the new Indian under-19 captain, who is very highly rated in the local circles and Robin Bist, this season's sensation in the Ranji trophy. Throw in a couple of other established names like Naman Ojha and Venugopal Rao, and this line up is all set to send shivers down most bowlers' spines. Though some of the mentioned players may not be available in the early stages of the tournament due to international commitments, the likes of Ross Taylor and the athletic Andre Russell provide immense depth to this side in case of emergency.

The Nashua Titans finished the 2011/12 season as Cricket South Africa's (CSA) champion franchise when they added the MiWay T20 Challenge trophy at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium on Sunday to the SuperSport Series crown they won earlier in the summer. This is the third time the Titans have been crowned domestic T20 champions (the previous occasions were in 2005 and 2008). They beat the bizhub Highveld Lions by the decisive margin of 45 runs, having made187/6 after being sent into bat and ten restricting their opponents to 142 all out in 18.5 overs.

Farhaan Behardien was once again the star of the show, making an unbeaten 42 off 26 balls to earn the batting award. The bowling award went to his Titans' team mate, Faf du Plessis, who took 4/24 in his 4 overs, including 11 dot balls. He and fellow spinner Roelof van der Merwe destroyed any thoughts of a Lions' fightback after they had lost too many top order wickets too quickly.

After getting the wooden spoon in the first edition of IPL, the Hyderabad based Deccan Chargers, under the leadership of Adam Gilchrist caused a dramatic turn around of the script to become the champions in the second edition in South Africa. But since then they have struggled to achieve anything of note and last season, fell short of qualifying for the semis. Now with Kumar Sangakarra at the helm of a team largely consisting of unknowns, Deccan Chargers will have to bring out a top drawer effort to make an impression in the tournament.

There were several buys by the Deccan Chargers in the recent auction, but surprisingly no big fish were netted. In the trading period too, they lost some big names like Kevin Pietersen and Pragyan Ojha, but failed to land an eye catching player. Add to that the injury to premier fast bowler Ishant Sharma, which makes DC one of the few unfancied teams of the season. But given the uncertainties of Twenty20 cricket, it will be foolish to rule out any chances of an upset. They begin their campaign on April 7 as they take on defending champions Chennai Super Kings in Visakhapatnam, and only their most ardent fans will back their chances of causing an upset.

They say its tough to be consistent over a long period of time in cricket, more so in a version as fickle as twenty20, where the course of a game often gets decided in an over or two. But the India Cements owned Chennai Super Kings have defied the law of averages and made winning a habit. The two time IPL winners and current defending champions have made it to the finals three times in last four years and it will be a tough ask for any other team to stop the CSK juggernaut.

Led by one of the most shrewd captains in the game, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the team has reaped the benefits of keeping the nucleus of the team constant. In the last season, after an indifferent start, the team fought back brilliantly and maintained the momentum throughout to be crowned as champions for the second time. Though they had a below average campaign in Champions League last year, they would start the 2012 season as hot favorites. The title defense will start on the opening day itself as they take on Mumbai Indians on April 4 at their own backyard.

The first three editions of the gala Indian Premier League was a tale of talent sans temperament, promise sans performance and class sans consistency for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Plagued by controversies and infighting, the Knights in shining gold were left languishing in the dark bottom half of the table. Easily the most glamorous team of the IPL, KKR failed miserably on the field. The baseless multiple-captaincy theory, dethroning Sourav Ganguly from the captaincy post and eventually discarding the Maharaja of Kolkata further added fuel to the fire. However, 'A bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make a turn'. Realizing this, Team owner, Sharukh Khan, the largest cinematic superstar in India tightened the screws and pulled his Knights out of the mire. Change was the need of the hour then for the KKR and a major overhaul of personnel and a cool head in new captain, Gautam Gambhir worked wonders for Sharukh's men as a tide of rejoice, relief and positivity swept the Kolkata camp. The think-tank learnt its lesson that the success of an IPL team is directly proportional to the strength of the Indian contingent and after a heavy bidding war, the city of joy laid its hands on Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan. KKR had to pay a bulk of its quota to get the duo on the board. Nevertheless it was a worthwhile bargain as the fourth season finally saw the Knights break into the semi finals of the grand spectacle.

Cut to 2012. The Knight Riders are the strongest team on paper, perhaps second only to the 'Impregnable Chennai Superkings'. They possess a bevy of international stars, momentum-shifting all-rounders, outstanding Indian talents and an astute coach. In a nutshell, Kolkata has a enviably balanced mix of youth and experience. Kolkata Kinght Riders added Brendon McCullum, Sunil Narine and Marchant de Lange to its repertoire in the 2012 Players Auctions. One will have to admit that KKR's well-researched purchases were nothing short of intelligent. Only a fool will rule Sharukh Khan's Knights out of the knock-out rounds and the ruthless Knight Riders will go all out in their effort to clinch their first piece of silverware. One can expect KKR's spirit to thunder over the oceans and rumble in the arena. Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo!