The 16th edition of the IPL will kick-start on March 31 and will run until the final, slated for May 28. Defending champions Gujarat Titans will host Chennai Super Kings in the season opener in Ahmedabad, and the final is also scheduled to be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
About 5 weeks before the 10-team tournament will start, there is already plenty of decision-making going on among a few franchises which has led to the fans hyping up the season even more.
After 6 years, there will be 3 foreign captains in the IPL
Yes, the IPL 2023 will see 3 teams being led by overseas captains.
Last year, it was only one: Faf du Plessis captaining Royal Challengers Bangalore. Now two more are added.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad have named Aiden Markram as their new skipper, having released Kane Williamson ahead of the IPL 2023 auction after a poor season of the team and Williamson with the bat last year.
Delhi Capitals were forced to name a new captain for IPL 2023 after Rishabh Pant was ruled out due to knee and other injuries which he suffered in the car accident in December.
David Warner will captain DC in IPL 2023, Axar Patel is named as vice-captain
While this will be the first time as captain for Aiden Markram in the IPL, Warner is an experienced leader in this competition, having led SRH to the title in IPL 2016.
Markram, however, isn’t a novice as a skipper. Recently, he led Sunrisers Eastern Cape, SRH’s sister franchise, to the title in the inaugural season in SA20 and he was himself an instrumental figure in the team’s success. Markram also led the South Africa Under-19 team to the U-19 World Cup trophy in 2014.
Apart from DC and SRH, the other 8 teams have retained their captains from last season.
There were rumors about CSK and MS Dhoni pondering over handing the CSK captaincy to England all-rounder Ben Stokes, for whom they splashed INR 16.25 crore in the auction.
However, with the England captain hinting that he is likely to leave early – possibly missing the playoffs and the final, should CSK reach there – to play in the Test against Ireland, which will start 3 days after the IPL final date, that thought of Stokes taking over the captaincy armband from Dhoni this season has been put to bed.
