Having a proper Indian core is key for a team to find success in the IPL. In the past, most of the successful franchises ensured this. Even now, the stronger-looking teams have a good assembly of talented Indian cricketers. On that note, here, we take a look at the list of three teams with the weakest Indian core on paper for IPL 2024.
Note: We have considered recent form as one of the main criteria to derive this list.
1) Royal Challengers Bangalore
One of the main problems of RCB ever since the start of IPL has been its Indian core. The team has been over-reliant on its foreign core and that has caused problems for them.
For IPL 2024, they have Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar and Mohammed Siraj as the only three reliable Indians. Dinesh Karthik and Karn Sharma have experience but are not in great form. The likes of Yash Dayal, Akash Deep, Mayank Dagar and Mahipal Lomror have talent but are yet to prove consistency.
2) Delhi Capitals
Delhi Capitals is one of the teams with the weakest Indian core on paper for IPL 2024. It is not sure if Rishabh Pant would turn up his old self. Also, Prithvi Shaw’s recent IPL form has been very mediocre.
Barring Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, the team lacks reliable Indian stars. Mukesh Kumar can leak runs while Ishant Sharma and Khaleel Ahmed are specialists in one particular phase. Therefore, DC is on this list.
3) Sunrisers Hyderabad
On paper, SRH seems to have a good Indian core. However, apart from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and to an extent, Abhishek Sharma, the Indian players in the team are not in great form.
Rahul Tripathi and Mayank Agarwal were not great in IPL 2023. Abdul Samad and Umran Malik can be inconsistent while T Natarajan can miss the correct lane at times. Washington Sundar is injury-prone while Shahbaz Ahmed’s recent form is not good.
