IPL 2023: The 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League will kickstart tonight with all the glitz and glamour at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Four-time IPL champs Chennai Super Kings will lock horns with the defending champions Gujarat Titans in the season opener tonight.
Ahead of the start of the tournament, Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has named his favorites to win this season and surprisingly it’s neither Chennai Super Kings nor Mumbai Indians, the two most successful IPL teams.
Ricky Ponting Named His Favorites To Win IPL 2023
Speaking on the latest episode of The ICC Review, Ponting was asked to pick his favorite team – excluding his team, which he feels will definitely make it to the summit clash this year. The Australian legend named the inaugural champions Rajasthan Royals as his favorite.
Rajasthan Royals, who won the first-ever IPL season in 2008, had come close to winning the title after 14 years last year when they reached the final.
Ponting was in awe of how the Royals managed to get all the star-studded players at the auction table last year, making them one of the strongest teams to win the trophy this year. He said:
“Obviously Gujarat (Titans) last year were amazing, a brand new team and were able to win the tournament. The other finalist last year, Rajasthan Royals, I think have got a really, really good squad. And we said that last year, immediately after the auction, we were pretty impressed with what they were able to do and put a good squad together. They’ve only built on that again this year. I think Rajasthan will be there, thereabouts.”
He added: “It’s a hard game to judge and a hard game to understand who’s going to win. Who stands up in the moment will generally win more often than not. But if I’m looking at the squads, Rajasthan has got a good squad as anybody,”
