IPL 2023: BCCI announces schedule; Gujarat Titans to take on CSK in opener on March 31

After staging IPL across Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad in the last edition in 2022, the 16th season of India's cash-rich T20 league will revert to the home and away format, where all the teams will play 7 home games and 7 away games respectively in the league stage

Mumbai:The 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be held from March 31, starting off with a blockbuster clash between defending champions Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad at Narendra Modi Stadium as a total of 70 league stage matches will be played over 52 days.

After staging IPL across Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad in the last edition in 2022, the 16th season of India's cash-rich T20 league will revert to the home and away format, where all the teams will play 7 home games and 7 away games respectively in the league stage. The official Twitter account of the IPL posted the full schedule of the match on Friday after the announcement by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday announced the schedule of the 16th season of the marquee event, which will be played across 12 venues. The first double-header day of the season will be on April 1 on which Punjab Kings will square off against Kolkata Knight Riders in Mohali and Lucknow Super Giants will take on Delhi Capitals in Lucknow, the BCCI Honorary Secretary Jay Shah informed in a release on Friday.

The TATA IPL 2023 will have 18 double-headers, with the day games starting at 3:30 PM IST and the evening games starting at 07:30 PM IST. Five-time champions Mumbai Indians will open their campaign in an away match at Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 2. Rohit Sharma's team will play its first home match against archrival Chennai Super Kings on April 8.

Rajasthan Royals will play their first two home games in Guwahati before playing the remainder of their home games in Jaipur. Punjab Kings will play their five home matches in Mohali and then, play their last two home matches in Dharamshala against Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals respectively. The schedule and venues for the Playoffs and Final will be announced later. The summit clash of the IPL 2023 will be played on May 28, 2023.

With the announcement, cricket fans have started discussing various issues related to the upcoming mega event. One of the points of discussion is about who will take over the captaincy of Chennai Super Kings after Mahindra Singh Dhoni steps down, which is expected to happen Former India Test cricketer Parthiv Patel says England all-rounder Moeen Ali can be a captaincy option for CSK.

Speaking exclusively on the show 'Match Centre Live', JioCinema expert Parthiv Patel said, "There is one name I would like to throw across is Moeen Ali. We have to see if Ruturaj Gaikwad is ready for the captaincy, and if you are talking about (Ben) Stokes and his captaincy, then as you know, immediately after the IPL, the Ashes is going to start and how much the England Board will allow him to play; if he leaves in the middle, that is something to look out for.

Patel said that one positive point in favour of Moeen is that he will be available for the entire IPL 2023 as he does not play Tests and therefore will not have to leave for the Ashes series. "However, Moeen Ali is the type of player who does not play Test matches and has captained England when Jos Buttler is injured or unavailable. So, he can be a short-term option, as CSK and Mumbai always think about the longer options, and if there are none, then you have to see what other long-term options can be made," said Patel.

Parthiv said he has experience of playing with Moeen at Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and feels the England player has leadership qualities."So, I think Moeen Ali can be a big name out of the names they are thinking of, and I am sure they are in the leadership group. I have played at RCB and there is a saying that there is a leader inside, but it can't be seen from the outside.

So, Moeen Ali definitely has leadership qualities, and now to come back to the tour, you have to forget about the previous time and think about the new recruits," said Patel. The former India wicketkeeper said CSK will have to bring new energy to the home ground and focus on positive energies.

"You have to bring that new energy to the home ground where you are going to play, and you have to focus on the positive energies. If we have to talk about Chennai last year, then it was in the rebuilding process, but it didn't happen, so they will go with their old formulas, and I think this season can be good for them," he said. (With agency inputs)