As a previous champion of The Cricket Blog pool on SportGuru, I’ll be bringing you my picks for each Round of IPL 5 in 2012.

The first round is always tricky to predict, but we’ve assessed the form of the players and weighed up which teams we think will do well. Bear in mind that I’ve made picks for weekend games before I’ve seen the first few matches, but enough with the caveats.

Here are my predictions for Round 1:

Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians:
Chennai Super Kings by 24 runs or 6 wickets

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils:
Kolkata Knight Riders by 23 runs or 6 wickets

Mumbai Indians vs Pune Warriors
Mumbai Indians by 31 runs or 7 wickets

Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab:
Kings XI Punjab by 21 runs or 6 wickets

Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Delhi Daredevils:
Bangalore Royal Challengers by 22 runs or 6 wickets

Deccan Chargers vs Chennai Super Kings:
Chennai Super Kings by 25 runs or 6 wickets

Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders:
Rajasthan Royals by 27 runs or 6 wickets

Pune Warriors vs Kings XI Punjab:
Kings XI Punjab by 23 runs or 6 wickets

Click here to join our SportGuru prediction league!