It is that time of the year again when the length and breadth of India pauses for a few hours each day, for over two months, and indulges in its favourite pastime — cricket.
Perhaps no other sport brings a country to a standstill like cricket does with people forgetting their stresses and their hardships for those few hours and just living in the moment.
It is the also the time when battle lines are drawn depending on which team or city you hail from or support. Yes, the Indian Premier League (IPL), the world’s most popular T20 league is right round the corner with the 17th edition set to roll from Friday, March 22.
And even before a ball has been bowled in anger, it has had its fair share of drama and it it promises to be another cracking season with its surfeit of thrills and high-quality action.
Chennai Super Kings, the defending champions and five-time winners of the trophy, and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, will set things in motion with the opening match in Chennai.
There have been personnel changes across the teams, acquired during the mini auction held in Dubai last December. It would be interesting to see how they stack up with their new teams. There have also been captaincy changes and new coaches.
Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have been the most successful teams with five titles apiece. Will the other eight teams be able to break their hegemony or could Royal Challengers Bengaluru take inspiration from their women’s team and end their title drought and do the double of winning the Women’s Premier League and the IPL?
Time will tell.
Here’s a lowdown on the new season:
When will IPL take place?
It begins on Friday, March 22 but owing to the Indian elections, the tournament will be split into two halves. The first segment will see 21 matches played over 17 days until April 7.
How many teams are there?
There are 10 teams in the league.
- Royal Challengers Bengaluru
How many matches are there?
There will be 74 matches played through the tournament including the play-offs and the final.
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Where will the matches be played?
It will be played across 12 venues across India.
- MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai
- Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai
- 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?
Defending champions the Chennai Super Kings will square off against south Indian neighbours and rivals Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the former’s fortress — the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai 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 opening game between the Chennai Super Kings and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru will start at 6.30pm. Days when there are double-headers, the first match will begin at 2pm followed by the second game at 6pm.
How can you watch matches in the UAE?
You can watch all the live action on CricLife 1 through the STARZPLAY app. Also, e-commerce platform noon is streaming the matches for 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
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)
Leading wicket-taker:
Yuzvendra Chahal (Rajasthan Royals)
2023 Leading run scorer:
Shubman Gill (Gujarat Titans)
2023 Leading wicket taker:
Mohammad Shami (Gujarat Titans)