The Indian Premier League returns for its biggest season tomorrow, with a galaxy of top names and two new franchises expanding the world’s richest cricket competition to 10 teams for its 15th edition. Crowds in the cricket-loving nation will, initially at least, be limited to 25 percent capacity as per COVID protocols with group games restricted to four venues, one in Pune and three in Mumbai in Maharashtra.
With the addition of two new teams – Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans – the IPL will have 74 matches this season including the playoffs and the final. IPL is returning to India after about a year.
The teams will be divided into two groups of five, based on their previous IPL records. The IPL this season promises to be the first to be played entirely in India since 2019 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Chennai Super Kings are the Defending Champions and will open the season against Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai tomorrow.
Four-time IPL winners Chennai yesterday announced that Mahendra Singh Dhoni has handed over the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja after making the team one of the most successful since the league started in 2008.
The Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians have been the most successful IPL team, winning a record five titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020.
Having tried and failed to win the IPL title for nine seasons as skipper of Royal Challengers Bangalore, home superstars, Virat Kohli has also stepped aside with South Africa’s Faf du Plessis taking charge.
International T20 greats such as Australia’s David Warner and England’s Jos Buttler will be back for two months of high-octane cricket, but fellow Englishman Ben Stokes and West Indies veteran big-hitter Chris Gayle are big names who will be missing.
The tournament began in India in April last year but had to be suspended at the halfway point a month later as Covid infections surged across the country.
It eventually resumed in September in the UAE, with Chennai Super Kings beating Kolkata Knight Riders in the final in Dubai in October. The pandemic also forced the IPL to be played in the United Arab Emirates in 2020.
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