IPL returns home, CSK to take on KKR in opener

Mumbai: Cricket's cash-rich tournament, the Indian Premier League (IPL), is back home for its 15th edition in a bigger than ever form.

The defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will take on the runners-up Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the curtain raiser on March 26 at Wankhede Stadium.

The tournament will see 10 teams battling it out for the coveted trophy, with Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans as the two new entrants.

However, with Covid-19 situation in the country, only 25 percent capacity of crowd will be allowed at four venues in Maharashtra – Wankhede, Barbourne, DY Patil and MCA Stadium in Pune.

This year's IPL will have 74 games instead of 60, thanks to the addition of new teams. This means that the window has been extended to over two months.

However, the teams will play 14 games each, similar to the previous season.

On March 24, when less than two days were remaining for the tournament to begin, the captain cool MS Dhoni handed over CSK's leadership role to all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja which indicated that the wicketkeeper-batter may not feature in all games.

With Dhoni stepping aside, the spotlight will be on Jadeja whose recent form in international cricket would give him confidence to lead the Chennai-based franchise.

Meanwhile, their opening game opponent, KKR too will see a new captain - Shreyas Iyer, who was added to the team at the mega auction. Iyer has a point to prove, having previously led Delhi Capitals to their first-ever final in 2020.

Squads:

CSK: Ravindra Jadeja (c), Moeen Ali, KM Asif, Bhagath Varma, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, MS Dhoni (wk), Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Hari Nishaanth, Narayan Jagadeesan, Chris Jordan, Adam Milne, Mukesh Choudhary, Dwaine Pretorius, Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, and Robin Uthappa.

KKR: Shreyas Iyer (c), Aman Khan, Ashok Sharma, Sam Billings, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Baba Indrajith, Venkatesh Iyer, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Chamika Karunaratne, Mohammad Nabi, Sunil Narine, Pratham Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Ramesh Kumar, Nitish Rana, Rasikh Salam, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Shivam Mavi, Rinku Singh, Tim Southee, Abhijeet Tomar, Varun Chakravarthy and Umesh Yadav. (UNI)