IPL 2023: Dhoni’s CSK or Rohit’s Mumbai Indians, know who is a strong contender for the title

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IPL 2023: Mahendra Singh Dhoni The never-ending speculation about the future of Virat Kohli, the long wait for the title and Rohit Sharma Everyone’s eyes will be on the form of the Indian Premier League starting on Friday. Dhoni, Kohli and Rohit have played a key role in making IPL exciting in the last 15 years, due to which the cricket fans of India eagerly wait for this tournament which runs for almost two months every year.

IPL is entering its 16th season and some such changes are being made in this tournament which can leave a big impact. This time the ‘Impact Player’ rule will be introduced while DRS can be resorted to for wide and waist-above no-balls. Apart from this, two big broadcasters are also joining the ‘TV vs Digital’ battle of media rights this time.

Dhoni is almost 42 years old but his relevance among CSK fans has not diminished. These fans throng Chepauk in large numbers to watch their ‘Thala’ hitting long sixes. People are saying that this will be Dhoni’s last year in the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) jersey but it has never been easier to speculate on the future of the legendary cricketer. Rohit also agrees with this and he will not be surprised if his ‘captain’ of the Indian team continues to play till the age of 45.

CSK’s team could not make it to the play-offs in 2022 and this time Dhoni’s eyes will be on equalizing Mumbai’s record of five titles. The team has added Ben Stokes, who can turn the map of the match with his batting and bowling. Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad can open the innings while Ambati Rayudu has proved himself with the bat and Deepak Chahar with the ball.

Mumbai Indians, however, have their eyes set on preparing a team of the future, which is proved by seeing young players like Dewald Brewis, Tim David, Cameron Green, Tilak Verma, Hrithik Shokeen and Kumar Karthikeya included in the team. Like Dhoni and Rohit, Kohli has also played in all IPLs but failed to win the title. He scored 973 runs in the 2016 season and it will not be easy for anyone to break this record.

Virat Kohli has played some IPL finals but never won the title. Kohli is no longer the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and is probably in the best mental shape he has been in the last three to four years. The presence of players like captain Faf du Plessis, Michael Bracewell, Glenn Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik allows Kohli to play freely.

This season will be especially important for Hardik Pandya as he will have a chance to scale new heights in 2022 after leading Gujarat Titans to the title in his very first year. Pandya will hope that players like Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami and Shubman Gill will continue in the rhythm of last year. If the team performs well once again, then he will be a contender to lead the team in this format after the ODI World Cup this year.

Talking about Sunrisers Hyderabad, there will be a big challenge in front of the new captain Aidan Markram to boost the morale of the team. In the presence of Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips and Harry Brook, the team looks better than in the last few years. Although the bowling of the team can be a cause of concern. Batsmen have now started to understand Umran Malik’s bowling better, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s bowling is no longer as sharp as before.

Punjab Kings led by Shikhar Dhawan is another team which probably does not believe in consistency. The team has not been able to achieve the desired results since finishing runners-up in 2014. The team changed their captains, sacked the coach after one bad season and the team never showed stability. This time the team spent Rs 18 crore 50 lakh on Sam Curran.

The 2023 international season has been disappointing so far for Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul and he would like to overcome this frustration in IPL 2023. Rahul has not been able to impress in captaincy and questions have also been raised on his batting style. Lucknow’s team is balanced and it has a skilled strategist in the form of Gautam Gambhir.

The Kolkata Knight Riders team will also rely heavily on their coach Chandrakant Pandit, who is a very skilled strategist and in the absence of regular captain Shreyas Iyer, it will be up to new captain Nitish Rana to implement his plans. KKR’s performance, however, will largely depend on the West Indies duo of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.

Delhi Capitals will miss the injured regular captain Rishabh Pant, but David Warner, who is going to lead the team in his absence, will have his eyes set on winning the second IPL trophy.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan Royals team has looked quite balanced. The team has the world’s most dangerous T20 hitter Jos Buttler, clever wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and R Ashwin with a great understanding of cricket, besides an effective captain in the form of Sanju Samson.

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