IPL teams and their EPL equivalents – Part I

Most cricketers these days prefer to play for their IPL franchises rather than their country, just as it is the case in the EPL.
Different IPL teams, much like EPL teams have different theories of how to go about playing, and astonishingly their ideologies and performances so far can be correlated. Thus with yet another month of exciting T20 cricket about to come up, here are the 3 of best IPL teams and which EPL teams do they represent the best –

1) CSK = Manchester United

Chennai has undoubtedly been the most consistently performing team. No team has won the tournament twice or for that matter, come in the semi-finals/ playoffs stage in all the 6 years of the competition. Besides, they continue to have the highest brand value of all teams as their marketing and merchandising has improved tremendously to become exceptional.
Manchester United too, has a similar focus of balancing their on the field and off the field activities. Both of them remain the toughest teams to face against by their opponents in their respective competitions and the most polarizing too!

2) MI = Chelsea

They have the same jersey colour but also are similar in their achievements. Mumbai is the only team to give Chennai nightmares head to head while Chelsea’s record is the best against Man Utd. If Mumbai have Sachin Tendulkar, Chelsea have John Terry as their captain, both of whom are icons for their respective teams and their countries due to which their teams have the second largest fan base and are the most watched on television. Plus, Mumbai and Chelsea took their time to win the League titles eventually.
Their owners too are the richest businessmen in their respective countries, India’s Mukesh Ambani for Mumbai Indians and the Russian, Roman Abramovich for Chelsea. So they tend to spend huge every season when it comes to both players and the coaching and administrative staff.

3) RCB = Arsenal

Playing in Bangalore is like playing at the Emirates Stadium, a partisan crowd with mainly red jerseys and flags to show. Emirates is all about being lavish, offering world class facilities whether it’s in their flights or at their ground in North London. Vijay Mallya is similar in thinking too as he owns Kingfisher and Bangalore’s franchise. Plus, the Chinnaswamy is one of the best grounds in the country.

Both of them barely have any local talent, thus banking mostly on their foreign stars to deliver. While they still struggle to win the League title, generally finishing 2nd or 3rd. Both the teams now though, seem to be on a decline again and need some radical changes to bounce back.