It's that time of year again when all across India, people pause for a few hours each day for over two months to enjoy their favorite sport - cricket. Cricket has a unique way of bringing the country together, with people setting aside their worries and just living in the moment.
It's also a time when loyalties are tested, depending on which team or city you support. Yes, the Indian Premier League (IPL), the world's most popular T20 league, is about to start its 17th edition from Friday, March 22.
Even before the first ball is bowled, there's been plenty of excitement and drama. This season promises to be another thrilling one, packed with excitement and high-quality action.
The Chennai Super Kings, defending champions and five-time winners of the trophy, will kick off the action with the opening match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai.
During the mini auction held in Dubai last December, there were personnel changes across the teams, adding intrigue to the upcoming matches. It will be fascinating to see how these new additions fit into their respective teams. Additionally, there have been changes in team captains and coaching staff, adding another layer of anticipation to the tournament.
The Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have been the most successful teams, both winning the title five times. Will the other eight teams be able to challenge their dominance? Could the Royal Challengers Bangalore take inspiration from their women's team and end their title drought? Perhaps they could achieve a double by winning both the Women's Premier League and the IPL. Only time will tell.
Here's a lowdown on the new season:
When is the IPL taking place?
The IPL begins on Friday, March 22. However, due to the Indian elections, the tournament will be divided into two parts. The first segment will feature 21 matches played over 17 days until April 7.
How many teams are there?
There are 10 teams in the league.
- Chennai Super Kings
- Mumbai Indians
- Kolkata Knight Riders
- Gujarat Titans
- Sunrisers Hyderabad
- Rajasthan Royals
- Royal Challengers Bengaluru
- Delhi Capitals
- Lucknow Super Giants
- Punjab Kings
How many matches are there?
There will be 74 matches played through the tournament including the play-offs and the final.
Where will the matches be played?
It will be played across 12 venues across India.
- MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai
- Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai
- Eden Gardens in Kolkata
- M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru
- Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad
- Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium and Inderjit Singh Bindra Stadium in Mohali
- Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi
- Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad
- Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Rajasthan
- Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow
- ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Vishakhapatnam
Who plays against whom in the opening game?
The defending champions, Chennai Super Kings, will face their south Indian neighbors and rivals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, at the Chennai stronghold — the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday, March 22.
When is the final?
The final will be played on May 26.
What time are the matches in the UAE?
The season's opening match between the Chennai Super Kings and the Royal Challengers Bangalore will commence at 6:30 pm. On days with double-headers, the first match will start at 2:00 pm, followed by the second game at 6:00 pm.
How can you watch matches in the UAE?
You can catch all the live action on CricLife 1 through the STARZPLAY app. Additionally, the e-commerce platform noon is streaming the matches for just Dh1.
TEAMS AT A GLANCE:
Chennai Super Kings
Captain: Ruturaj Gaikwad
Coach: Stephen Fleming
Titles: 5 (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023)
Last year's finish: Champions
Squad:
Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Avanish Rao Aravelly.
Mumbai Indians
Photo: PTI file
Captain: Hardik Pandya
Coach: Mark Boucher
Titles: 5 (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020)
Last year's finish: 3rd
Squad:
Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, N. Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Luke Wood, Romario Shepherd, Gerald Coetzee, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma, Kwena Maphaka.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Captain: Shreyas Iyer
Coach: Chandrakant Pandit
Titles: 2 (2012, 20140
Last year's finish: 7th
Squad:
Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Phil Salt, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain.
Gujarat Titans
Captain: Shubman Gill
Coach: Ashish Nehra
Titles: 1 (2022)
Last year's finish: Runners-up
Squad:
Shubman Gill (c), David Miller, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B. Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma, Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson, Sandeep Warrier. Players injured/withdrawn: Mohammed Shami, Robin Minz.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Captain: Pat Cummins
Coach: Daniel Vettori
Titles: 1 (2016)
Last year's finish: 10th
Pat Cummins (c), Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Sanvir Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Agarwal, T. Natarajan, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Upendra Singh Yadav, Umran Malik, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shahbaz Ahmed , Travis Head, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan.
Rajasthan Royals
Captain: Sanju Samson
Coach: Kumar Sangakkara
Titles: 1 (2008)
Last year's finish: 5th
Squad:
Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Captain: Faf du Plessis
Coach: Andy Flower
Titles: 0
Last year's finish: 6th
Squad:
Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan.
Delhi Capitals
Captain: Rishabh Pant
Coach: Ricky Ponting
Titles: 0
Last year's finish: 9th
Squad:
Rishabh Pant (c), Pravin Dubey, David Warner, Vicky Ostwal, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje, Abishek Porel, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Lalit Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Mitchell Marsh, Ishant Sharma, Yash Dhull, Mukesh Kumar, Tristan Stubbs, Ricky Bhui, Kumar Kushagra, Rasikh Dar, Jhye Richardson, Sumit Kumar, Shai Hope, Swastik Chhikara.
Lucknow Super Giants
Captain: KL Rahul
Coach: Justin Langer
Titles: 0
Last year's finish: 3rd
Squad:
KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Krunal Pandya, Yudhvir Singh, Prerak Mankad, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Shamar Joseph, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, K. Gowtham, Shivam Mavi, Arshin Kulkarni, M. Siddharth, Ashton Turner, David Willey, Mohd. Arshad Khan.
Punjab Kings
Captain: Shikhar Dhawan
Coach: Trevor Bayliss
Titles: 0
Last year's finish: 8th
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Harshal Patel, Chris Woakes, Ashutosh Sharma, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Shashank Singh, Tanay Thyagarajann, Prince Choudhary, Rilee Rossouw.
A LITTLE BIT OF STATS:
Leading run-getter:
Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bengaluru)
- Matches: 237
- Runs: 7263
- Highest score: 113
- 100s: 7
- 50s: 50
- 4s: 643
- 6s: 234
Leading wicket-taker:
Yuzvendra Chahal (Rajasthan Royals)
- Matches: 145
- Wickets: 187
- Best figures: 5-40
- Overs: 527
2023 Leading run scorer:
Shubman Gill (Gujarat Titans)
- Matches: 17
- Runs: 890
- Highest score: 129
- 100s: 3
- 50s: 4
- 4s: 85
- 6s: 33
2023 Leading wicket taker:
Mohammad Shami (Gujarat Titans)
- Matches: 17
- Wickets: 28
- Best figures: 4-11
- Overs: 65
News Source: Khaleej Times
