The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League is all set to take over the entire cricketing fraternity into frenzy and excitement. The league is slated to continue with the 10 dominant team that featured in the 2022 edition but now in a home/away basis.
The tournament starts with a mouth watering clash between defending champions Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium on the 31st of March 2023.
We will now see the 10 Teams that is going to feature in this IPL and their captains.
Here is our prediction on which teams will win the IPL 2023 edition!
Gujarat Titans (GT)
The Gujarat Titans are the defending champions having won the 2022 edition of IPL and this was also their first season as a franchise. They played some outstanding cricket to not only top the group stages but also went onto win the whole thing courtesy of complete team performance. Almost every player chipped in at crucial times for the team and they have almost retained the same core barring few changes.
GT will hope to become only the 2nd side in IPL history after CSK to successfully defend the title.
Captain: Hardik Pandya
Gujarat Titans will be led by the Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya who be at the helm of this team for the 2nd time. Pandya was in great batting form last season scoring over 480 runs in the season and being the leading run getter for his side.
His impressive leadership was appreciated by the pundits and the 29-year-old Indian limited-overs captain will be eager to put on a good show as a captain in the coming season as well.
Rajasthan Royals (RR)
Rajasthan Royals came ever so close to clinch their 2nd IPL trophy by reaching the final only to lose to the eventual champions Gujarat Titans last season. Like GT, the Royals played some outstanding cricket winning 9 out of 14 league games and stood 2nd in the standings.
Rajasthan have not done much changes to their team and will hope they will go one step further this time around.
Captain: Sanju Samson
The young captain of Rajasthan Royals, Sanju Samson has till now shown great potential in leading the side.
He has led the team from front in the last 2 seasons as a batsman scoring 458 & 484 runs respectively and the team will benefit if he continues his rich vein of form coming at No.3.
Mumbai Indians (MI)
Mumbai Indians had a forgettable season last time around finishing at the bottom of the standings in league table winning just 4 games. One of the reasons for their downfall was due to the bowling woes and even before the start of 2023, MI have been jolted with injuries to pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Jhye Richardson but the return of Jofra Archer gives them a much needed solace.
They do boast some young and exciting names in the batting order but they are largely inexperienced. We have to see how they perform at the big stage.
Captain: Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma will be the skipper of most successful IPL franchise Mumbai and he will lead them for the 11th time. He has already led them to title on 5 occasions but it will be a real challenge for Rohit the captain as he is set to lead a young and inexperienced squad in the coming season.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
If there is a team that has challenged the supremacy built by Mumbai Indians, it has to be Chennai Super Kings. CSK is the 2nd most successful IPL team in history winning the tournament on 4 different occasions.
However, the last season proved to be a bad as they managed to win only 4 games and finishing in the 9th place in the points table.
The main reason for their disappointing performance is its bowling unit which lacked experience and skill to match world class batters. They have made several new inclusions this season but still the bowling unit looks a tad weak.
Captain: MS Dhoni
CSK will be led by the former legendary Indian keeper batsman MS Dhoni who will be back as the full time skipper of the side. Under his leadership, CSK has won 4 titles in 13 attempts thus far.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
Though they haven’t won a single IPL title till date, RCB is among the most consistent sides in the last few seasons. They have made it to the playoffs in each of the last 3 seasons and qualified for the playoffs with 8 wins in the last season, where they lost to Rajasthan in the Qualifier 2.
They would like to go one step further and clinch the much eluding IPL trophy for the first time in their history.
Captain: Faf du Plessis
The former Proteas skipper Faf was named the captain of the RCB franchise in the last season following the stepping down of Virat and he did pretty well in his debut captaincy season. Faf led them from the front scoring 468 runs at an average of over 31.60, topping the batting charts for the team.
The franchise will hope for a similar sort of performance from him.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)
Yet another team had an impressive outing in their maiden IPL tourney and it was the Lucknow Super Giants. LSG was one among the 4 teams to reach the playoffs finishing 3rd in the points table with 9 wins in the league stages. Their spirited run came to an end after a loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore in the eliminator.
They did make some changes to the personnel, but the core largely remains the same in this season as well. LSG will hope to do one better in this upcoming edition of the IPL.
Captain: KL Rahul
KL Rahul is a beast when it comes to the IPL, and he rarely has had a off-season in the recent past. Rahul has scored 600+ runs in 4 of the last 5 IPL seasons and averages just over 48 and is 111 shy of reaching 4000 run mark in IPL. He along with Quinton scored over 1000 runs in the last edition and their partnership is one of LSG’s strong points.
He has led the team from the front and played a key role in LSG reaching the playoffs.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Kolkata Knight Riders has not performed up to the mark in the last few seasons of IPL, having reached the playoffs only once since 2019 edition. They finished the 2022 season in the 7th position with only 6 wins under their belt. KKR have been inconsistent, and they are already with an injury to their regular skipper Shreyas Iyer who is certain to miss most of the IPL.
This leaves a big void in KKR’s batting order and it is up to the top-order which is majorly Indian batters to step and allow a strong middle-order to capitalize on.
Captain: Nitish Rana
Nitish Rana has been named the stand-in skipper for the KKR in the absence of Shreyas Iyer. The first time skipper has led sides in the domestic tournaments and is quite capable of taking the Knight Riders forward in this IPL.
As a batter, Rana has scored 2181 runs at a strike rate of 134.22 in 91 IPL games.
Delhi Capitals (DC)
Much like KKR miss Shreyas Iyer in this season of IPL, Delhi Capitals (DC) will also miss their skipper Rishabh Pant for the whole tournament. The Capitals have been really consistent in the last few seasons and since their last place finish in 2018, the team has made it to the playoffs on 3 occasions. This year they would want to clinch their first-ever IPL trophy.
Captain: David Warner
David Warner is named the skipper of Delhi Capitals in the absence of Rishabh Pant. Warner, the Australian opener is the highest run-getter among overseas players in the IPL and has the experience of leading the SRH side in the past. He has even lifted the trophy with them and this augurs well for DC, especially with Pant not being there.
Punjab Kings (PBKS)
Yet another team that has not had success when it comes to winning the coveted IPL title is the Punjab Kings. This time around too, PBKS does have irregularities in the squad in terms of the batting order. Their star opener Jonny Bairstow will not feature in the entire opener and the Indian batting is largely inconsistent.
PBKS’ team combination has let them down on many occasions and one of the reasons why they have not been able to reach the playoffs since the 2014 season.
Captain: Shikhar Dhawan
The Indian opener Dhawan takes over as the skipper Punjab Kings from Mayank Agarwal. As a batsman, Dhawan’s record in IPL is only 2nd to Virat Kohli and but the real challenge for him is to lead this young group of Indian batters who are inexperienced. However, he will find support from a strong quartet of overseas stars who will feature in the playing XI.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
The former 1-time IPL champions have had a tough time in the last 2 seasons finishing outside the playoffs positions. However this time around with new skipper at the helm, SRH do possess an impactful team, especially among the overseas contingent. They would hope, a new look team will bring in a change of fortunes.
Captain: Aiden Markram
The South African T20 skipper is the new SRH captain, and he has done quite well in recent times as captain. Markram led the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to a title win in the inaugural SA20 league earlier this year and also named captain of his T20 national team. This would give him a lot of confidence when he leads an IPL team for the first time.
