In a cricket calendar packed with international matches and T20 leagues that seem to merge with one another, one tournaments stands for its sheer size and impact – the Indian Premier League.
The T20 format was created in England in the early 2000s but truly took off in India by 2007, where a young Indian team won the first World Cup. The next year, the IPL was born and it has been a meteoric rise since.
The league's valuation has ballooned to $10 billion, with its media rights alone now worth $6bn. According to YouGov, the cumulative viewership of IPL 2022 was close to 500 million. With the IPL to be shown for free across the country this year by online rights holders Reliance Jio, that number is expected to easily cross one billion.
The two-month long tournament will begin at the biggest stadium in the world – the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad – on March 31 and conclude with a title showdown on May 28 at the same venue.
Here is everything you need to know about this year's T20 extravaganza, where Gujarat Titans will look to defend their title.
What
IPL 2023
When
The tournament begins in Ahmedabad on March 31 with a match between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The final will be held at the same venue on May 28.
Where
Matches will be held in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Lucknow, Delhi, Kolkata, Jaipur and Mohali. Some games will also be played at Guwahati (Royals' home) and Dharamsala (Kings).
What is new this season?
There are a few major changes. Firstly, teams will be back to playing on a home and away basis, after they were restricted to a few venues in western India last year due to the pandemic. Also, teams will now be allowed to announce their squads after the toss.
Also, this IPL will see the introduction of 'impact player'. Apart from the playing XI, the captain can bring in one impact player from the four nominated substitutes. The 'impact player' can bat, bowl and field any time in the match, barring a bowler who can come in only after the end of the over.
Teams
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (captain, wk), Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Chahar, Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell Santner, Shivam Dube, Maheesh Theekshana, Dwaine Pretorius, Ajinkya Rahane, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Shaik Rasheed, Subhranshu Senapati, Nishant Sindhu, Bhagath Varma, Tushar Deshpande, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Sisanda Magala, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki. Note: Kyle Jamieson injured.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (captain), Suryakumar Yadav, Cameron Green, Tim David, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Dewald Brevis, Jofra Archer, Jason Behrendorff, Ramandeep Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Shams Mulani, Piyush Chawla, Kumar Kartikeya, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Tristan Stubbs, Vishnu Vinod, Arshad Khan, Raghav Goyal, Duan Jansen, Akash Madhwal. Note: Jasprit Bumrah and Jhye Richardson injured
Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (captain), David Miller, Shubman Gill, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, Matthew Wade, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Shivam Mavi, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Shami, Jayant Yadav, Yash Dayal, Srikar Bharat, Urvil Patel, Joshua Little, Darshan Nalkande, Noor Ahmad, R Sai Kishore, Pradeep Sangwan, Mohit Sharma, Odean Smith
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf du Plessis (Captain), Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Rajat Patidar, Dinesh Karthik, David Willey, Finn Allen, Reece Topley, Josh Hazlewood, Siddarth Kaul, Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, Suyash Prabhudessai, Manoj Bhandage, Mahipal Lomror, Shahbaz Ahmed, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Avinash Singh, Rajan Kumar, Himanshu Sharma, Karn Sharma, Sonu Yadav
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (captain), Quinton de Kock (wk), Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Ayush Badoni, Krishnappa Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Manan Vohra, Avesh Khan, Mark Wood, Ravi Bishnoi, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohsin Khan, Prerak Mankad, Karan Sharma, Kyle Mayers, Daniel Sams, Swapnil Singh, Yash Thakur, Romario Shepherd, Amit Mishra, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Mayank Yadav
Kolkata Knight Riders: Nitish Rana (captain), Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Litton Das, David Wiese, Mandeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson, Rinku Singh, Shardul Thakur, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakaravarthy, Umesh Yadav, N Jagadeesan (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Kulwant Khejroliya, Suyash Sharma. Note: Shreyas Iyer subject to fitness.
Delhi Capitals: David Warner (captain), Rovman Powell, Rilee Rossouw, Mitchell Marsh, Philip Salt (wk), Yash Dhull, Manish Pandey, Lalit Yadav, Ripal Patel, Axar Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Lungi Ngidi, Aman Hakim Khan, Praveen Dubey, Vicky Ostwal, Chetan Sakariya, Ishant Sharma. Note: Rishabh Pant injured.
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (captain, wk), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Joe Root, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jason Holder, Trent Boult, Adam Zampa, KC Cariappa, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Kunal Singh Rathore, Abdul Basith, Donavon Ferreira, Dhruv Jurel, Murugan Ashwin, KM Asif, Akash Vasisht, Kuldip Yadav. Note: Prasidh Krishna injured.
Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Liam Livingstone, Sikandar Raza, Shahrukh Khan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Sam Curran, Rishi Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Nathan Ellis, Jitesh Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Atharva Taide, Mohit Rathee, Harpreet Brar, Baltej Singh, Shivam Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Vidhwath Kaverappa. Note: Jonny Bairstow uncertain
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Aiden Markram (captain), Harry Brook, Rahul Tripathi, Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Glenn Phillips, Abhishek Sharma, Washington Sundar, Marco Jansen, T Natarajan, Adil Rashid, Umran Malik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abdul Samad, Anmolpreet Singh, Nitish Reddy, Samarth Vyas, Sanvir Singh, Vivrant Sharma, Upendra Yadav, Akeal Hosein, Mayank Dagar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kartik Tyagi, Mayank Markande
Prize money
The winning team is set to take home a cheque of 200 million rupees ($2.4 million). The runners-up will receive 125m rupees ($1.5m).
How to watch in the UAE
The IPL will be shown live on Criclife 1 on the Starzplay app in the UAE. You can also catch all the highlights on iplt20.com.