So much has changed this season but still so much remains the same as the world’s most popular T20 league is all set to begin
Kolkata: On the cusp of adulthood towers the proud and proven Indian Premier League, with the season opener serving as the common feature between then and now. Everything else has changed, arguably for the better.
Supporters gather to catch a glimpse of RCB players as a bus carrying them enters the Eden Gardens on the eve of IPL 2025. (AFP)
City-based icons have made way for performance-based selections, more Indians are getting top dollar, feeding the system now is a scouting network that picks a 13-year-old from relative obscurity, with the overall mandate driven only towards winning.
That last part is overarchingly vital. Because in an ecosystem where England’s entertaining cricket had once threatened to upstage its tactical version, India’s back-to-back victories in international white-ball cricket reaffirms the significance of not missing the point of playing to win.
Honing that outlook season after season has been the seventeen-edition old IPL that is now going through a transition of its own. For MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin, the end is nearer than ever. Notwithstanding the fact they aren’t captains, a final flourish from them should be an event in itself.
Add Rahane’s name to the list too, given the circumstances he finds himself in. Never has a defending IPL champion not retained its captain, till KKR did the unthinkable before the auction last year. And when a fortune was spent on getting Venkatesh Iyer back, it was more or less a foregone conclusion that he would lead. Till KKR sprung a surprise with Rahane, which in hindsight is in line with their philosophy of letting continuity and not any particular individual be in charge. “For us, it’s about keeping it simple,” Rahane said in an event here on Wednesday.
Yet it isn’t as simple. For KKR to see mentor Gautam Gambhir and almost their entire coaching staff leave along with their captain couldn’t have been easy but at least they have managed to retain their formidable spin bowling core. “Well it’s bound to happen every year,” said Varun Chakravarthy in a matter-of-fact tone here on Friday. “Even if you win a championship you are bound to go into the auction and obviously the core players end up changing. But still the management has managed to retain almost nine members of the previous core.”
On top of changing their captains, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Delhi Capitals, Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings too have undergone different, complicated churns, hoping it would put an end to their titleless run. Rajat Patidar is probably the most low-profile of this new batch of captains, given he hasn’t even played T20Is for India.
And even though RCB head coach Andy Flower maintained the whole team has thrown their weight behind an ‘excited’ Patidar, there is no doubt that Kohli remains the figurehead of RCB. More or less the same applies to Dhoni as well at CSK who are entrusted in Ruturaj Gaikwad. Should they improve on their fifth place finish from 2024, CSK would take it as a win. But for RCB, the stakes could be higher after making the last-four in 2024.
On paper, Delhi Capitals look better placed because of the semblance of continuity when they announced the promotion of Axar Patel as captain. It has also potentially liberated KL Rahul from the burden of captaincy, which in turn should help Capitals maximise his batting prospects. Opening the batting, anchoring the middle overs, finishing chases—there is nothing Rahul hasn’t tried his hand at. But this sort of freedom is new. Diagonally opposite though is the scenario for Shreyas, going to Punjab Kings who are notoriously unstable when it comes to continuity.
The backdrop in which some of these changes were contrived is intriguing as well. Once Pant teased the fans and franchises on social media by wondering aloud his potential price, a big move was on the cards. For him to leave Capitals, ostensibly for a bigger paycheck, puts Pant on shaky ground. All will be forgotten though if he scores heavily as well as wins the IPL. And he is in dire need of both, given we have now entered an age where Pant’s match-altering ability is considered to be Test specific only.
On the tactical front, the rule change that allows the use of two new balls in the second innings of night games could be the one to look out for, especially at venues where dew can be a factor. Flower believes it’s a much-needed change.
“I like the rule change on the captain electing when they can take a second ball in the second half of the innings,” he said on Friday. “I’ve always wondered why there was this reticence on the umpire’s part to change the ball. And I think in conditions where dew does affect games significantly, that’s a really good rule change.”
