The 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League is almost here and will begin in less than a week. All 10 teams will compete for the prestigious trophy once again. This season the IPL will return to its original home-and-away format and will be played across 12 venues in the country over a course of two months.
IPL 2023 will kickstart with a thrilling clash between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat titans in Ahmedabad. Delhi Capitals who are one of the few franchises yet to win the elusive trophy will begin their campaign in IPL 2023 a day later when they will lock horns with Lucknow Super Giants in an away match.
Mohammad Kaif Named The X-Factor For DC For IPL 2023
Meanwhile, ahead of the tournament, former Delhi Capitals assistant coach Mohammad Kaif picked the ‘X factor’ from the side while hailing him for his glorious career in the Indian Premier League.
David Warner has replaced DC’s regular captain Rishabh Pant, who suffered multiple injuries in an unfortunate car accident last December and is still recovering from it. Pant will remain unavailable for the better part of the year. Warner has previously led Sunrisers Hyderabad to IPL title glory in 2016 and he will be seen leading the Delhi-based franchise this season.
In an interaction with Star Sports before IPL 2023, Kaif picked Warner as the ‘X-factor’ of DC for the upcoming season, while also admitting that the Australian star batter never gets the due credit. He said:
“The team’s strength for me, I’ll always say, is Warner. He is the kind of player that, whenever he’s in form, he can win matches single-handedly. Warner probably never gets the credit he deserves, but he’s proven to be a legendary batter in IPL history. He has understood the Indian conditions supremely well. He’s been playing in India for a while. So, for me, Warner is the X factor,”
Notably, Warner had kicked off his IPL journey in 2009 with Delhi before he moved to SunRisers Hyderabad. In the previous edition of IPL, he scored 432 runs for Delhi in IPL 2022 season with five fifties at a strike rate of 150.52.
Meanwhile, Kaif was also asked about Delhi’s weakness, Kaif said: “Delhi needs to decide who’s going to replace Rishabh Pant. It will be a daunting question,”
