The IPL 2023, which is the 16th edition of the Indian League, is set to get underway on March 31, with the much-awaited clash between MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya: in the tournament openers, defending champions Gujarat Titans will be hosting Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
Ahmedabad will also host the IPL 2023 final, on May 28.
The Indian League returns to its traditional home-and-away format in India for the first time since 2019. In the IPL 2023, each team will play 14 league matches. The league phase comprises 70 matches across 52 days, followed by the playoffs and the final.
All the 10 teams have bolstered their squads in the Premier League 2023 auction, and the fans will be expecting even tighter, tougher competition in this year’s tournament than last year.
Will we have a new Indian Premier League winning? Or will one of the previous winners reclaim the title? Or will the Gujarat Titans be able to successfully defend their title?
Here are our top 2 contenders to lift the IPL 2023 trophy:
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sunrisers Hyderabad may not have the giant fanbase such as RCB, MI, or CSK, but what they have done is compiled a complete, well-rounded unit at the auction. They had released a host of players, including their captain Kane Williamson, and went in the auction with the largest purse. They didn’t even buy any of the three marquee overseas all-rounders – they perhaps weren’t even in their plans – but they have assembled a squad that has depth in quality and experience.
Aiden Markram is their new captain, having led Sunrisers Eastern Cape to the SA20 title recently, SRH will hope for the South African all-rounder to repeat his replicate his success here in the IPL.
Check out this top-order: Abhishek Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram; followed by either Glenn Phillips or Heinrich Klaasen as the wicket-keeper, both of whom are destructive T20 batters.
Washington Sundar is their premier Indian all-rounder, and Marco Jansen the seam-bowling all-rounders, while other spinners in the squad are Adil Rashid, Mayank Markande, Akeal Hosein – all having match-winning T20 pedigree.
Their pace attack is one of the best in the tournament: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Marco Jansen, Kartik Tyagi, Umran Malik, T Natarajan, Fazalhaq Farooqi. SRH can even play Harry Brook in the XI if they drop Jansen.
SRH have all their bases covered. They don’t boast of the biggest names in Indian or world cricket, but when these players play together like one unit, they have all ingredients to lift their second IPL trophy.
Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals felt just one step away from their second IPL title when they lost to the Gujarat Titans, unarguably the best team last season.
It is a telling fact of the strength of the RR team that even without a balanced side they reached the final. Throughout the IPL 2022, because the likes of Neesham and Daryl Mitchell weren’t up to the mark, Rajasthan had the conundrum of playing either a batter short or a bowler short and eventually they settled with a batter short: in most of their matches, the combination was 5 batsmen, 5 bowlers and Riyan Parag the all-rounder.
Now, in the IPL 2023 auction, they went and filled that hole by buying Jason Holder, the world-renowned, high-quality, and experienced all-rounder. Holder, in recent years, has raised his bowling to a new level and, with the bat, can hit the ball a long distance using his long reach. Jason Holder completes this RR XI. His presence will also allow the other batters to bat with a bit more freedom. Not to forget, Riyan Parag has only gotten better as an all-rounder in the past year. With Holder, RR have fixed the missing jigsaw puzzle from last season.
Rajasthan Royals’ first and best XI is perhaps the best and most balanced XI among all 10 teams. They might, in IPL 2023, secure their second IPL trophy.
