Arguably the most glamorous form of cricket in India, the Indian Premier League (IPL) kicked off
with an exciting match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings, in
Mumbai. The 2018 edition of IPL will also mark the return of CSK into the IPL
fold, after serving a two-season suspension along with Rajasthan Royals (RR).
Apart from witnessing the MS Dhoni-led team again on-field, donning their
yellow jerseys, cricket fans have been awaiting with bated breath the
commencement of this tournament.
While there is never a shortage of star players in the lucrative
league, injuries and the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa have robbed the
tournament of at least four world-class players. Mitchell Starc and Kagiso
Rabada will miss the IPL due to injuries, while Steven Smith and David Warner,
who both were named captains of Royals and Sunrisers respectively, were barred
from the competition after Cricket Australia banned them for one year for their
role in the infamous ball-tampering incident in Cape Town.
The
2018 edition of IPL will also test the mettle of a few rising stars who will
have a lot of eyeballs on them. Mumbai boy Prithvi Shaw, who also captained the
victorious India team in the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2018 in New Zealand, had
been making news even before he set sail for New Zealand to lead the Indian
side in the biennial event. Recognised as a hard-hitting top-order batsman,
Shaw’s presence in the Delhi line-up, which already has Rishabh Pant in it, can
be intimidating for other teams. Another budding player, Shubman Gill, was one
of the finds for India from the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2018 and has been picked
up by the Knight Riders in what will be his debut season. His presence
strengthens KKR’s batting line-up that has the likes of Dinesh Karthik, the
captain, Andre Russell and Robin Uthappa. Another exciting young talent in the
IPL, Jofra Archer is a Barbados-born all-rounder who aims to make a career in
England, the country his father was born in. Archer has already played in the
Pakistan Super League and the Big Bash League, and this will be his debut IPL
season.
Café
spoke to a few local fans of IPL and this is what they had to say:
Fans
would be expecting nothing less than a third trophy from the Super Kings and
Royals would be hoping that Warne inspires them to another triumph after 10
long years. However, if anyone has unfinished business over a decade of IPL, it
is India captain Virat Kohli. He made his intent amply clear earlier this week.
In Kohli and AB de Villiers’ presence, batting was never an issue for RCB and
this time Bangalore seems to have enough firepower in the bowling department.
NITISH
PRABHUGAONKAR, RCB
fan
CSK
has plenty of experience with 11 of their players over 30. All eyes will be on
Dhoni, who will be expected to finish off games like he has done for the better
part of his career. Of late, he has not been at his destructive best and IPL
will be an ideal platform for him to get his mojo back. The other crucial
players for Super Kings would be Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo.
AJINKYA DESHPANDE,CSK fan
With
Steve Smith absent from the Rajasthan Royals, the team’s morale is bound to be
low. CSK has a good chance to lift the trophy for the third time. I think
Sunrisers Hyderabad will suffer without Warner and Mustafizur Rehman, but they
have also poached Shakib from Kolkata Knight Riders, which will definitely be
of assistance. Also, with RCB without Mitchell Starc, their bowling attack will
not be as lethal.
SURAJ
RAMNATH, SRH fan
