A team represented by two modern all action men of India, Virender Sehwag and Akshey Kumar. Akshay, once known as the action hero of Bollywood, continues to astound audiences with his talent whilst Virender's all action approach to batting continues to dumbfound bowlers around the world. Semi-finalists last year, they will be looking to go all the way this year. But will Sehwag's uncomplicated method of captaining be enough to lead his side to victory? With Gautam Gambhir as his opening partner, new kid on the block David Warner and all time legend Glenn McGrath in the ranks, it should be a good tournament. Greg Shippard will be taking up coaching duties.

Kolkata, owned by ShahRukh Khan, coached by John Buchanan and captained by the icon Sourav Ganguly (and maybe others) are a team of personalities. The team started with a bang last year, but wilted in the latter stages of the tournament. There have been all sorts of controversies in the build up to the start of IPL 2009, including John Buchanan's new masterplan of multiple captains, ShahRukh Khan's public attack on India's finest Sunny Gavaskar and Sourav's public admissions of not knowing what anybody's talking about. Unless everybody starts working together, another low finish looks on the cards. Still, there's always the possibility of ShahRuhk taking his top off, even if the chances of Sourav baring himself again seem slim. Key personnel include Ishant Sharma and the firecracker Brendon McCullum.