The eyes of the cricket world will be on India again when the Indian Premier League begins on March 22 with Chennai Super Kings facing Royal Challengers Bangalore.
There is no dearth of flashy kits and big hits of franchise cricket at this time of the year. But there is nothing quite like the IPL, where the very best compete for a slice of the great fortune and recognition that awaits.
This year's IPL will have an added layer of importance as the T20 World Cup begins straight after (June 2-29), which means many national teams will rely on performances in the IPL when selecting their final squads for the showpiece event in the Caribbean and US.
As we prepare for another thrilling season of IPL, here is everything you need to know.
When does IPL 2024 start?
The IPL starts on Friday, March 22, with a clash between defending champions Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The match begins at 6.30pm UAE time.
Schedule
Why is the complete schedule not out yet?
There was a lot of uncertainty over this year's IPL as it coincided with general elections in the country. For a period, there was a feeling the tournament could be split between India and an overseas location.
This time, the Indian board is taking it one step at a time and ensuring security clearances in advance in order to avoid the chaos of the ODI World Cup. There, the board had to redraw plans after announcing the fixtures due to scheduling conflict with local authorities.
Hence, only a part of the schedule has been confirmed. There are reports that the second half of the tournament could be held outside India.
Squads
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (captain, wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Maheesh Theekshana, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana, Shardul Thakur, Mukesh Choudhary, Simarjeet Singh, Ajay Mandal, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Tushar Deshpande, Avanish Aravelly, Shaik Rasheed, Sameer Rizvi
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (captain), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Kane Williamson, David Miller, Matthew Wade (wk), Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Azmatullah Omarzai, Shahrukh Khan, Noor Ahmad, Rashid Khan, Abhinav Manohar, B. Sai Sudharsan, Robin Minz, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Kartik Tyagi, Spencer Johnson, Sai Kishore, Manav Suthar, Darshan Nalkande, Sushant Mishra
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (captain), Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Romario Shepherd, Mohammad Nabi, Piyush Chawla, Shreyas Gopal, Nehal Wadhera, Nuwan Thushara, Jasprit Bumrah, Jason Behrendorff, Gerald Coetzee, Dilshan Madushanka, Shams Mulani, Shivalik Sharma, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Arjun Tendulkar
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (captain), Virat Kohli, Will Jacks, Anuj Rawat (wk), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Tom Curran, Suyash Prabhudessai, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Lockie Ferguson, Mahipal Lomror, Manoj Bhandage, Swapnil Singh, Karn Sharma, Mayank Dagar, Himanshu Sharma, Saurav Chauhan, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Rajan Kumar
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (captain, subject to fitness), Phil Salt, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Manish Pandey, Sherfane Rutherford, KS Bharat (wk), Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Gus Atkinson, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Suyash Sharma, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sakib Hussain
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (captain & wk), Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Rovman Powell, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Donovan Ferreira, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Nandre Burger, Abid Mushtaq, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Sharma, Kunal Rathore, Shubham Dubey
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (captain), Quinton de Kock, Kyle Mayers, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Devdutt Padikkal, Ashton Turner, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Amit Mishra, K. Gowtham, Yudhvir Singh, Mark Wood, Mohsin Khan, Shivam Mavi, David Willey, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur, Arshin Kulkarni, Prerak Mankad, Mayank Yadav, Arshad Khan
Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (captain), David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Shai Hope, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Mitchell Marsh, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Ricky Bhui, Yash Dhull, Kuldeep Yadav, Abishek Porel, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Rasikh Salam, Jhye Richardson, Kumar Kushagra, Lalit Yadav, Sumit Kumar, Vicky Ostwal, Pravin Dubey
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins (captain), Aiden Markram, Abhishek Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Travis Head, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen, Wanindu Hasaranga, Washington Sundar, Anmolpreet Singh, Abdul Samad, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Upendra Yadav, Sanvir Singh, Nitish Reddy, Mayank Markande, Shahbaz Ahmed, J Subramanyan, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh
Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Liam Livingstone, Rilee Rossouw, Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Chris Woakes, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Vidwath Kaverappa, Harshal Patel, Atharva Taide, Harpreet Bhatia, Ashutosh Sharma, Shashank Singh, Shivam Singh, Vishwanath Singh, Tanay Thyagarajann, Prince Choudhary
How to watch matches in the UAE?
The IPL will be shown live on CricLife 1 via the STARZPLAY app in the UAE.
What is new this year?
Well, for starters, Australia's all-conquering pacer Mitchell Starc returns to the IPL after a gap of eight years. Almost the entire 2023 ODI World Cup winning Australia squad will be in India, with Pat Cummins also announced as captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad.
On the other hand, one of the most successful captains in IPL – Rohit Sharma – saw his stint as Mumbai Indians leader come to end when the franchise parachuted in Hardik Pandya in his place. That has led to a lot of hand wringing in the Mumbai camp, which will make for interesting TV.
Also, bowlers will be allowed to bowl two bouncers per over, which could challenge the more traditional power hitters, who are used to plating their foot down and smashing across the line.
IPL 2023 team of the year
