Tag: Indian Premier League

IPL 2023 Begins on March 31 in India: All You Need to Know

Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 begins on March 31 in India, with the BCCI-run tournament returning to its traditional home-away stadium format this year after modifications and venue changes were implemented in its previous editions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The popular league cricket tournament, which includes 10 teams fighting to become champions, is currently in its 16th edition and sees Gujarat Titans return as defending champions. Notably for viewers, there are major changes to the streaming experience, with JioCinema taking over as the streaming platform for IPL from 2023 onwards.

IPL 2023: Tournament format, dates, and timings

IPL 2023 will follow the traditional league format for much of the tournament, with each team playing every other team once at home, and once away. The four top teams after the league stage will progress to the playoffs, where the first and second-placed teams have a distinct advantage over the third and fourth-placed teams.

The IPL 2023 will take place from March 31 to May 28, with the final set to take place in Ahmedabad, Gujarat — the home venue of the defending champions Gujarat Titans. During the league stage, teams will play primarily at their traditional home venues, although some matches are scheduled to take place in Guwahati, Assam and Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh as denoted home venues for Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings respectively.

League stage matches will take place every day (at least one match per day) from March 31 to May 21, with most matches starting at 7:30pm. However, some matches will start at 3:30pm, so keep a look out for the specific schedule of your favourite team.

IPL 2023: How to watch

There is a big change to how IPL 2023 can be watched, as compared to previous editions of the tournament. With streaming rights changing hands and Viacom18 securing the rights, matches in 2023 will be broadcast on JioCinema, which is available on multiple platforms including smartphones, tablets, smart televisions, and streaming devices, as well as the low-cost JioPhone feature phones.

Interestingly, JioCinema is streaming the entire IPL 2023 tournament at up to Ultra-HD resolution, with numerous other improvements to the viewing experience, such as the ability to change camera angles and languages, being implemented. The app will also provide access to statistics and virtual reality implementations on supported devices.

Viewers will be happy to note that JioCinema is currently accessible free of charge to all, with no subscription plan required and the app free to download on all platforms. JioCinema was the streaming platform for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and drew criticism for poor performance and technical issues then, but it’s possible that these issues will be ironed out ahead of IPL 2023 to ensure proper viewing.

Television viewers also have an option to watch IPL 2023 on traditional cable and DTH connections, with the Star Sports network retaining the TV broadcast rights for IPL going into 2023. However, viewers with access to smart TVs and reliable Internet connections are promised a better experience with JioCinema, particularly the higher resolution and app-based features such as camera angles and 12 Indian languages for commentary and on-screen graphics.

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Recent Match Report – Royals vs KKR 30th Match 2022

Rajasthan Royals 217 for 5 (Buttler 103, Samson 38, Narine 2-21) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 210 (S Iyer 85, Finch 58, Chahal 5-40) by seven runs
Rajasthan Royals defended 217 by the skin of their teeth in an instant IPL classic at the Brabourne Stadium, with debutant Obed McCoy rearranging Umesh Yadav’s stumps to see out a nerve-jangling win.
Kolkata Knight Riders were pinned against the ropes as Jos Buttler hit his second hundred of the season and his third in his last seven IPL innings, playing out Sunil Narine but dominating the rest of their attack on his way to 103 off 61 balls. He was supported ably by Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer, as Royals plundered the highest total of the season.
But after a false start, which saw Narine getting run out without facing a ball after his promotion to pinch-hit at the top of the order, Knight Riders fought back. Aaron Finch led the charge with 58 off 28 balls, adding 107 in just 8.5 overs with Shreyas Iyer.
Yuzvendra Chahal appeared to have won the match in his final over: he had Venkatesh Iyer stumped off the first ball, a ripping googly, then removed Shreyas, Shivam Mavi and Pat Cummins to complete his first IPL hat-trick and five-for and leave KKR needing 38 off 18 balls with two wickets in hand.

With nothing to lose, Umesh swung hard. Trent Boult’s final over cost 20 runs, including two sixes and a four, to leave 18 required off the last two. But Prasidh Krishna conceded only seven, and McCoy held his nerve with two wickets in four balls to seal a breathless win.

Buttler sparkles
Buttler has started the season in prolific form but struggled for timing in the first two overs, reaching three off nine balls on a pitch he later described as “a little bit sticky at the start”. But he was soon into his groove, hitting Umesh for consecutive boundaries, toying with Varun Chakravarthy and slapping Mavi for six over the off side.

He reached fifty from the second ball he faced after the powerplay, and played with characteristic self-awareness about his strengths and weaknesses: he nudged Narine into gaps, hitting five runs off the nine balls he faced from him, but plundered 98 off 52 against the rest of the attack.

After Narine – wearing ‘150’ on his back, his total appearances for Knight Riders – had bowled Devdutt Padikkal, Buttler found support from Samson, whose cameo of 38 off 19 balls kept Royals moving. Buttler reached his hundred by belting Pat Cummins over long-on for six, but fell two balls later, top-edging a pull to fine leg.

Royals had reverted to a bowling-heavy line-up, with R Ashwin carded at No. 7, and threatened to fall away at the back end after Buttler’s dismissal. But Hetmyer ensured they finished well, hitting Andre Russell for consecutive sixes in the final over before carving the last ball of the innings through cover to steer Rajasthan to 217.

Finch, Shreyas start brightly
Finch had struggled badly heading into this match, averaging 25.19 with a strike rate of 121.33 in T20 cricket since the start of 2021. He kept his place in the side despite Sam Billings’ recovery from illness and after hitting the first ball of the chase to cover, he watched Hetmyer’s direct hit run Narine out before his new opening partner had faced a ball.

But he felt comfortable taking on Royals’ spinners, smoking the final ball of the powerplay for six off Ashwin and thrashing three boundaries in Chahal’s first over. He also tucked into McCoy and Prasidh with Shreyas playing second fiddle after a bright start of his own. When Finch skied the final ball of the ninth over to deep-backward point to fall for 58, the required rate was a shade over ten an over.

Shreyas had hit his first two balls for four off Trent Boult, playing with the attacking intent, and launched Ashwin for sixes via a reverse sweep and a clean blow down the ground.

After Nitish Rana holed out to long-off and Andre Russell’s off stump was pegged back by Ashwin’s perfect carrom ball, Shreyas had a life: he gloved a pull behind off McCoy, which wriggled out of Samson’s grasp as he dived to his left. He responded by hitting the next two legal deliveries for six and four, and swung Boult away for six more to leave Knight Riders needing 40 off the final four overs.

Chahal, McCoy seal it
Venkatesh had turned down a second run twice, to Shreyas’ visible annoyance, and decided to justify his decisions by trying to hit the first ball of Chahal’s final over for six. He skipped down the pitch, but was beaten by a googly; Samson redeemed himself, completing a simple stumping.

After Sheldon Jackson nudged a single, Chahal attempted to hide the ball wide outside Shreyas’ off stump and was penalised with a wide, but then surprised him by pitching one up, full and straight. It hit Shreyas on the pad, and the on-field lbw decision was upheld on review.

Knight Riders sent Shivam Mavi in at No. 8, perhaps due to Cummins’ weakness against spin. He looked to slog his first ball for six but holed out to long-on, and Cummins edged his first ball through to Samson to give Chahal a hat-trick – the first of the season.

The tail provided a twist, as Umesh belted Boult over long-on for two sixes, then slapped him through cover for four, taking the equation down to 18 off 12 balls. But neither Prasidh nor McCoy conceded a boundary, with McCoy’s slower balls to Sheldon Jackson (caught at fine leg) and Umesh (bowled looking to swing over midwicket) icing the victory.

Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98

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Recent Match Report – Super Kings vs Titans 29th Match 2022

Gujarat Titans 170 for 7 (Miller 94*, Rashid 40, Bravo 3-23) beat Chennai Super Kings 169 for 5 (Gaikwad 73, Joseph 2-34) by three wickets
David Miller played possibly his best IPL innings, 94 off 51, to help Gujarat Titans chase down Chennai Super Kings’ 170 from 16 for 3 and 87 for 5. For the first 17 overs, it was Miller or bust with just 43 non-Miller runs in 59 legal deliveries. They needed 48 now, and were 4.2% favourites to win. That’s when Rashid Khan, captaining in the absence of Hardik Pandya, lent Miller a hand in sensational fashion, hitting Chris Jordan for 6, 6, 4 and 6 to turn it into a routine affair for Titans.

Dwayne Bravo, though, was to CSK’s second half what Miller was to Titans’ first half: he bowled four overs on the trot starting with the 13th for 23 runs and three wickets, but the other end leaked 60 off 23 balls without taking a single wicket. Bravo finished his spell with two strikes in two balls. One of them was Rashid, which left Titans needing 13 off the last over. Miller only had the bowlers for company now but it didn’t matter because Jordan kept missing his yorker, and even bowled a high full toss to let Titans get home with one ball to spare.
CSK will be gutted that they slipped up in the final overs of both innings. After Ruturaj Gaikwad returned to form with a fifty and Ambati Rayudu‘s intent promised another big finishing kick, their last six overs produced just 45, the third-lowest for a side batting first this season. That after the preceding four had gone for 58. It was Alzarri Joseph, who dragged CSK back with the wicket of Rayudu after which their deep attack turned the screws.

Gaikwad and Rayudu set up for a big finish

Titans managed to get the most explosive powerplay batter of this season, Robin Uthappa, early in the innings after his highest IPL score, and Moeen Ali’s middling IPL continued to leave the score at 32 for 2 in the sixth over. However, Gaikwad, just 35 in five matches before this, and Rayudu rebuilt the innings looking for a classic CSK acceleration in the back 10.

Gaikwad and Rayudu take down the best of them

Aware of the CSK threat in the last 10 overs, Titans brought back the best of their bowlers immediately to try to take a wicket. An all-out assault awaited them. Gaikwad welcomed Joseph back with a pulled six before Rayudu charged down at him and lofted him over long-off. Lockie Ferguson went for a six and a four. Rayudu hit Rashid himself for a six. At 124 for 2 in 14, CSK looked primed.

Joseph starts comeback, others follow
Playing his first match this IPL, Joseph made a superb comeback in the 15th over. He kept bowling wide outside off to make Rayudu hit to the bigger boundary. Two plays and misses later, Rayudu somehow caught up with the third, but went only as far as deep point. Mohammed Shami came back with only four off the 16th, ending with figures of 4-0-20-1. Yash Dayal took Gaikwad out with a low full toss for 73 off 48. Twenty-five balls went without a boundary as Shivam Dube struggled with the slowness of the pitch.

Rashid, who had perhaps kept himself back for MS Dhoni, conceded no boundary in the 19th. It was only Ravindra Jadeja using the short leg side boundary against Ferguson in the last over, taking 18 off it, that gave CSK a competitive total.

Theekshana strikes early
With Pandya, their best batter so far, not playing Titans must have looked to Shubman Gill for a major contribution, but he unfortunately cut the first ball he faced – short, wide, asking to be hit – straight to cover-point. Maheesh Theekshana, fresh off a four-four in the last match, turned the screw with the wickets of Vijay Shankar and Abhinav Manohar in the powerplay. Wriddhiman Saha scored a forgettable 11 off 18 to make it 48 for 4 after eight overs.

Miller time

Miller, though, looked like he was playing on a different pitch to the one where almost everyone had struggled for timing in the last 12 overs. With Moeen Ali getting grip and turn away from the bat, Miller still managed to hit a straight four and a six in the ninth and 11th overs. In the 12th he opened up properly, taking down Jadeja, who turned the ball into him, hitting him for two sixes and a four. Out of 87 for 4 in 12 overs, Miller had scored 52 off just 29 balls.

Bravo intervenes

At a time when Miller might have looked for some support from the other end, Bravo started his evening with a wicket-maiden. The slower ball dipped and gripped for him, and accounted for Rahul Tewatia.

Miller, though, kept going to make up for a slow start from Rashid. These next three overs were crucial as runs could have come only from Miller’s end because Rashid knew there wasn’t much batting behind him. Runs did come, and in style. Even Bravo and Theekshana went for sixes, making it 52 off the last four overs. However, Bravo again struck back with a boundary-less 17th to leave Titans a one-in-25 chance of winning.

Rashid’s whippage

With a short leg-side boundary in play, Rashid unfurled those wrists against Jordan, the most profligate death-overs bowler in IPL chases, in the 18th over. The helicopter sent the first half-volley flying over midwicket. Jordan went wide second ball, but Rashid played a sensational slice over point for a six over the longer boundary. Jordan missed the yorker twice again and went for four and six. By the end of the over, Titans were 56% favourites to win.

Bravo brought CSK back with another slower one to get rid of Rashid. At 13 off seven, Joseph had a free hit to try to get a boundary but he found long-off. He still left Miller on strike for the start of the last over.

Jordan again kept missing his yorker, and when he bowled the high full toss with seven required off three, it was practically game over. The 38 he conceded off 11 legal balls was only behind Thisara Perera’s 41 in nine balls for runs conceded at the death in an IPL chase.

Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

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Recent Match Report – RCB vs Capitals 27th Match 2022

Royal Challengers Bangalore 189 for 5 (Karthik 66*, Maxwell 55, Thakur 1-27) beat Delhi Capitals 173 for 7 (Warner 66, Pant 34, Hazlewood 3-28) by 16 runs
Glenn Maxwell‘s 34-ball 55 helped Royal Challengers Bangalore overcome a poor start. Then, continuing his superlative form, Dinesh Karthik struck an unbeaten 34-ball 66, laced with five fours and as many sixes, to propel his side to 189. That, in the end, turned out to be 16 more than what Delhi Capitals could manage despite another quick start from David Warner and Prithvi Shaw.
The win meant Royal Challengers moved up to third on the points table with eight points from six games. Above them are Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants, also with eight points each but at a better net run rate.

Royal Challengers’ wobbly start
After Rishabh Pant opted to bowl, Mustafizur Rahman troubled Faf du Plessis in the first over. From the other end, Shardul Thakur made the first incision by trapping Anuj Rawat lbw with an overpitched delivery.

In the next over, du Plessis skipped down the track to Khaleel Ahmed, looking to go over covers. Instead, he ended up slicing it towards deep point, where Axar Patel took a couple of steps to his right and pouched it.

Maxwell hit two fours off Mustafizur in the sixth over, but Virat Kohli was struggling at the other end. Kohli was on 12 off 13 when he dropped one towards point and set off. Maxwell realised there was no run there and sent him back but, by then, it was too late. Lalit Yadav charged towards the ball and, throwing off-balance, nailed the direct hit with just one stump visible. That left Royal Challengers reeling at 40 for 3 in the seventh over.

Maxwell revives the innings
Coming into this game, Maxwell had taken Kuldeep Yadav for 56 runs off 37 balls with two dismissals across all T20s. On Saturday night, taking advantage of the shorter leg-side boundary, Maxwell smashed Kuldeep for two fours and two sixes in a 23-run over. Two overs later, Maxwell brought up his half-century off 30 balls with a four off Thakur.

Pant then changed Kuldeep’s end, giving him the cushion of the bigger leg-side boundary. That forced Maxwell to hit straighter but the ball dipped at him, and he ended up offering a straightforward chance to long-on.

In his next over, Kuldeep could have had Karthik too. He induced an under edge off a wrong ‘un but Pant dropped the chance. Karthik was on 5 off ten balls at that stage, and according to ESPNcricinfo’s Luck Index, that drop cost Capitals 26 runs.

Karthik makes Capitals pay
Given the form Karthik is in, it was inevitable he made Capitals pay for the reprieve. He hit Khaleel for two sixes in the seamer’s next two overs, but it was Mustafizur who bore the real brunt. In the 18th over, Karthik smashed him for 28 runs. The sequence read: 4, 4, 4, 6, 6, 4.

That meant Karthik brought up his half-century in just 26 balls after being on a run-a-ball 17 at one stage. Shahbaz Ahmed, who was mostly quiet until then, also got into the act, and the two picked up another 29 in the last two overs. In all, they added 97 in 8.4 overs in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand.

Warner, Shaw give Capitals flying start
Capitals started in an aggressive manner, with Warner and Shaw hitting at least one six between them in each of the first four overs. The two brought up the team’s 50 in just 4.3 overs – their third consecutive fifty stand. Mohammed Siraj provided some relief with Shaw’s wicket but Capitals finished the powerplay on 57 for 1.

Mitchell Marsh, playing his first game of the season, struggled for timing but Warner kept going. He slog-swept Wanindu Hasaranga for a six, brought up his fifty off 29 balls, and then took Harshal Patel for another six and four. Hasaranga eventually trapped Warner lbw when the batter failed to connect a switch hit.

The mini-collapse
Pant hit a couple of lapped fours off Hasaranga before drilling one back towards the bowler. Hasaranga tried to stop it but the ball brushed his fingers and went on to hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Marsh was out of his crease, which brought an end to his agony. He walked back for 14 off 24 balls.

In the next over – the 15th of the innings – Rovman Powell nicked Josh Hazlewood behind for a first-ball duck. On the last ball of the over, Lalit holed out to deep square leg as Capitals slipped from 112 for 2 to 115 for 5 in the space of seven balls.

Kohli’s brilliancy sees the end of Pant
Pant still threatened to snatch the game from Royal Challengers. After Thakur slogged Hasaranga for a six over long-on, Pant hit him for a four and six off back-to-back balls. In the next over, he muscled Siraj over deep midwicket to bring the equation down to 48 needed from 22 deliveries.

Siraj then bowled a high full toss, and Pant tried to smash that but lost his balance. It was still going over extra cover, where Kohli timed his jump well and plucked it with one hand. Two overs later, Hazlewood bounced out Thakur to ensure there was no miracle.

Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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