Three franchises DC, PBKS and RR have named a second home base in Vizag, Dharamsala and Guwahati respectively
Mumbai: The 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will kick off at the Eden Gardens on March 22 with defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) taking on fan favourites Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) under lights.
KKR team during their 2024 IPL season. (BCCI)
There will be no additional matches this year, with the plan to return to home-and-away matches for all 10 teams put off for now. The 74 matches, including the four playoffs, will be spread over 65 days and will involve 12 double-headers. The first of the double-headers will be played on March 23 with Sunrisers Hyderabad hosting Rajasthan Royals followed by the much-anticipated Chennai Super Kings-Mumbai Indians clash in Chennai. The two five-time champions will face off again on April 20 in Mumbai.
Hyderabad, home to last year’s runners up SRH, gets to host the first of the playoff matches, Qualifier 1 on May 20 and Eliminator 1 on May 21. Action will then shift to Kolkata for Qualifier 2 on May 23 and the final on May 25.
Three of the franchises, Delhi Capitals, Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals, have named a second venue for their home fixtures. Other than Delhi, DC will be playing two home matches in Visakhapatnam.
PBKS will divide their seven home matches with four to be played at the New PCA Stadium in Mullanpur and three in Dharmsala. These home-away-from-home fixtures will be played close to each other between May 4 to 11, allowing PBKS to plan for the switch to altitude that will afford more carry.
RR will play two home games at Guwahati – where they host KKR and CSK – besides Jaipur.
DC co-owner GMR group is currently in charge of the franchise and has business interests in Vizag. In the case of PBKS and RR, they are yet to acquire box office status and can afford to spread their home matches in consultation with BCCI.
RR, DC, Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans will play three afternoon matches each and the others two each.
RCB, who delivered a chain of positive results – six consecutive wins – to make the playoffs in the last edition will get to play a number of home games again at the back end of the tournament. Under new captain Rajat Patidar, RCB would look to be better placed by the time they reach the last stretch – four home matches in their final six before the playoffs.
New beginning
Besides RCB, PBKS as well as LSG will be going in with new captains along with KKR and DC. Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant could not reach an agreement with their old franchises over retentions and ended up winning a jackpot purse at the mega auction. Iyer, who became the first title-winning captain not to be retained, moves out of KKR’s purple to PBKS’ red where he will be joining forces with their new head coach Ricky Ponting. Delhi boy Pant moves to neighbouring UP, and will lead LSG this year.
After letting Iyer go, KKR did not go searching for a captaincy candidate in the auction and are likely to settle for either Venkatesh Iyer or Ajinkya Rahane to lead the team. KKR’s coaching staff has also undergone a change with Gautam Gambhir graduating to the India squad, replaced by Dwayne Bravo as mentor. DC are also yet to announce their captain, but Axar Patel is seen as the leading candidate with KL Rahul, who captained LSG last season, also in the fray.
The other teams have also undergone a rejig after the mega auction. For MI, who finished last after the league phase, have kept faith with Hardik Pandya, despite the upheavals within the team and fan outrage over the all-rounder being appointed captain over Rohit Sharma, who led the team to all their five IPL titles. The star-studded Mumbai franchise have stuck with Pandya while having India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and Test vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah in their ranks.
MI sign up Mujeeb
MI announced the signing of Afghanistan off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman as replacement for fellow tweaker Allah Ghazanfar, who has been ruled out of this year’s edition due to injury.
Ghazanfar, 18, had suffered a fracture in the L4 vertebra and will also miss the Champions Trophy starting on Wednesday. Ghazanfar was injured during Afghanistan’s recent tour to Zimbabwe. “Mumbai Indians wish Ghazanfar a speedy recovery and a warm welcome to Mujeeb into the #OneFamily,” MI said in a statement.
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