One more edition of the IPL will be underway in Chennai on the night of 22nd March 2024. This is the 17th edition of the tournament that has sprouted a lot of rival leagues throughout the cricketing world. The BBL in Australia was followed by Sri Lanka, Pakistan and West Indies with the latest entrants being South Africa, UAE & surprise of all surprises, USA. Nonetheless, IPL still remains the league that players the worldover wants to be part of. The reason is not difficult to fathom. It is the exorbitant money that is being paid to every player. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins have created a record of sorts by selling beyond 20 Cr Indian Rupee. An enormous amount by Indian standards.
The 17th edition will start with the winner of last year, CSK against RCB. It went against tradition in the sense that usually, it is the previous year’s finalists who would usually start the subsequent edition. For some reason, RCB has replaced last year’s finalist, Gujarat Titans. This year’s tournament has started with a mega surprise. After being at the helm for 14 years, save for a few games, Dhoni has stepped down as the captain of CSK. This was wholly unexpected. After winning the title over 2 of the last 3 years, fans of CSK expected Dhoni to continue to lead the squad. Ofcourse, it is inevitable that Dhoni will leave at some stage but no one expected it to happen just a day before the start of the competition.
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians too sprang a surprise though not at the last minute as CSK. The franchise out of the blue, paid a hefty amount to Gujarat Titans for Hardik Pandya. At first, everyone would have thought that this was done merely to ensure that the franchise had sufficient muscle power during the lower end of the innings now that Kieran Pollard has retired. Pandya played for Mumbai for a very longtime when they decided not to retain him.
Pandya would have felt letdown which led to him becoming the captain of Gujarat Titans. The shock came a little later when Pandya replaced Rohit as the captain. That was when it dawned on everyone the real reason for hiring Pandya. There were lot of disgruntled players within the Mumbai Indians setup. Jasprit Bumrah and Surya Yadav Tweeted cryptic posts thereby signalling their intentions. However, I felt that this was waiting to happen.
Change in captaincy, waiting to happen
Rohit has been the captain for more than 8 years. Being the captain of any sporting side for that long, will dent a captain’s capability. He or she would have gone past their sell-by-date and it is time to look to the future. That is exactly what the franchise owner did. This is a professional sport. This is how things are. There is no need for his supporters to feel disheartened.
Afterall, much the same could be said for him when he took over the captaincy of the Indian Test squad from Kohli when Kohli very much wanted to continue. Changes in captaincy and changes in personnel will keep on happening in professional sports. Yes, Rohit did win 5 trophies but that was in the past. Rohit is 37 looking towards the end of his career but IPL will go on. Hence, MI is justified in planning for the future.
Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkatta Knightriders
Two franchises that plumped in enormous amount on just 2 players. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins were stunned by their bids. Never in their wildest dreams would they have expected to be sold for more than 20Cr. This was unprecedented in the annals of the IPL. Both of them will be under tremendous to justify the pricetag. More so, Cummins who is not a great success as a T20 cricketer. Remember, when he played for KKR previously, he was dropped frequently not because of the 4 foreign players restriction but because he did not have any impact at all.
Nonetheless, now that he is back with a huge sum, it was only expected that he will be named as the captain of SRH. Especially, after the success at The Ashes, the WTC final and the ODI World Cup, it would have been insane on the part of the franchise not to name him the captain.
Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Titans
Gujarat by virtue of having been traded Pandya for a huge sum, has appointed Shubman Gill, their standout batsmen in 2023 as the captain. This is a big risk because Gill has not captained any sie previously. Gujarat has in their ranks Rashid Khan who is an international captain. Without the calming influence of Hardik Pandya, does Gujarat Titans have the necessary gumption to reach the finals remains to be seen.
As for RCB, it has been a wait for 16 years. It really is a shock that despite the presence of several power hitters, this franchise has never won the title. This season, they have bolstered their squad with Cameroon Green to complement the hitting ability of Maxwell and Karthik.
Rest of the franchises
Delhi and Punjab, just like RCB are still waiting for their moment in the Sun. Ricky Ponting has been the coach of Delhi for the last few years but even he is unable to catapult them to winning the title. As for Rajasthan, ever since the Shane Warne inspired first title, they are nowhere near the podium for all these years. Lucknow Super Giants have been quite consistent since they started about a couple of years ago. Much depends on Rahul. If he continues with the Test match approach, Lucknow will have a tough time.
Wrapping up brand new edition of IPL
I am not going to predict but for me, it will be RCB, KKR, MI and SRH in the final 4. Let’s wait and watch how the tournament transpires.
Other IPL blogs
https://icricketcritique.com/ipl-must-prove-its-worth/
https://icricketcritique.com/midseason-review-of-the-ipl-2023/
https://icricketcritique.com/the-expansion-of-ipl/