Kishan Singh

Bengaluru: Finally, the fans who have been anticipating the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season will be able to watch it starting tomorrow. The Indian Premier League's 15th season will be held in Mumbai and Pune. The IPL will last 65 days, with a total of 70 league matches and four playoff games played throughout that time.

The season will kick off on March 26th at the Wankhede Stadium with a match between the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

The league will hold its maiden double-header on March 27, beginning with a day game at Brabourne between the Delhi Capitals and the Mumbai Indians. The night match between Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will take place at the DY Patil Stadium.

The MCA Stadium in Pune will host its inaugural game on March 29th, when the Sunrisers Hyderabad face the Rajasthan Royals.

Wankhede Stadium and DY Patil Stadium will host 20 matches apiece, while Brabourne and MCA International Stadium in Pune will host 15 matches each.

There will be a total of 12 doubleheaders, with the opening match beginning at 3:30 PM IST. All evening games will begin at 7:30 p.m. IST. The final league stage game will be played on May 22nd at the Wankhede Stadium between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings.

The schedule for the Playoffs and the TATA IPL 2022 final, which will take place on May 29th, will be released later, said BCCI.

This season, Karnataka's favourite, Royal Challengers Bangalore, will play 14 league matches. After Virat Kohli resigned as captain, the RCB will be led by South African cricketer Faf du Plessis.

The RCB does not appear to be a formidable team on paper, with only Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Harshal Patel, Glenn Maxwell, and Josh Hazalwood in the lineup.

Mumbai Indians, who have won the title five times, have emerged as favourites this time around. The squad boasts a highly formidable batting and bowling lineup that includes Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Jofra Archer, and Surya Kumar Yadav.

This season's IPL features two new teams: the Lucknow Super Giants and the RPSG Group, led by Indian businessman Sanjiv Goenka. The team's important players include skipper KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Jason Holder, Marcus Stoinis, and Avesh Khan.

Gujarat Titans, another new team, is owned by the CVC capital and features major players including Hardik Pandya (skipper), Shubman Gill, Mohammed Shami, Matthew Wade, Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson, and David Miller. This team appears to be powerful, and fans of this new team are hoping that the GT will start their IPL journey on a high note.

If one team has the potential to lift the IPL trophy this year based on the heavyweight squad is Delhi Capitals, led by skipper Rishab Pant, the team has key players such as David Warner, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Seifert. because of the good batting and bowling lineup, the team fan's expectations are very high that their team may lift the maiden trophy.

The Chennai Super Kings, who have won the trophy three times, is hoping to win it again this season under the leadership of new skipper Ravindra Jadeja. The team appears to be strong, with major players including MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Robin Uthappa, Deepak Chahar, Ambati Rayudu, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Jordan, and others.

Shreyas Iyer will head the Kolkata Player Riders, who won the championship once before. He previously led the Delhi Capitals in the IPL. Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine, Sheldon Jackson, Sam Billings, Alex Hales, and Tim Southee are among the team's main players.

Mayank Agarwal, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, and Liam Livingstone are among the few significant players in Punjab Kings' lineup.

Key players for the Rajasthan Royals, who won the trophy once, include Sanju Samson, Shimron Hetmyer, Prasidh Krishna, Jos Buttler, Trent Boult, Devdutt Padikkal, and Ravichandran Ashwin.

Sunrisers Hyderabad has key players like Kane Williamson, Nicholas Pooran, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, and Sean Abbott.

Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the last two IPLs were low-key affairs. The contests were held behind closed doors, with no spectators present. However, the IPL will reclaim its previous splendour this year, as the matches will be played in front of a live audience.