Non-cricketing factors that will impact IPL-3

The first two editions of the IPL established 3 factors that affected the success of the teams - player availability, team balance and playing conditions.
Player availability will be less of an issue this year with most short format players free of their international commitments by mid-March. Key players missing March action due to test duty will be KKR (McCullum), Bangalore (Pietersen), Deccan (Ryan Harris), Rajasthan (Watson), Chennai (Hussey). Mumbai are lucky with both Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo free for IPL duty after the last ODI on March 12. Injuries to top players including Zaheer Khan, Jacob Oram, Flintoff may well affect their respective teams.
Team balance is limited by the 4 overseas players rule and the quality of Indian domestic players in the playing XI. Assuming 4 international players each from India and overseas in the XI, this still leaves 3 players that can affect performance. This is where the talent scouts have an important part to play scooping up promising U-19 and domestic players like Gony, Virat Kholi and Manish Pandey. Teams that have got maximum value from their overseas players like Deccan & Delhi have been frontrunners in both editions.
Playing conditions suited the spinners in 2009 due to the IPL being played beyond the scheduled end of the long cricket season. With the short boundaries and smaller stadiums in India, teams with a strong top-order and crafty death bowlers will do well. Expect teams to pack overseas batsmen in their top 4 and rely on their Indian bowlers to do the job. Scoring a minimum of 170 when batting first will be the priority as no target will be safe on the pitches in India.