The 15th edition of the world's most popular franchise-based T20 league, the IPL, --- this time called Tata IPL --- will get going at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium from March 26, with the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) taking on last year runner-up Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
This IPL, which will be played over 65 days and runs till May 29, will feature 74 matches --- 70 league matches, 3 playoffs and the final. It is 14 more than last year. The Tata IPL IPL is a 10-team league, as there are two additional teams in the fray --- the newly inducted franchises Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans.
According to the schedule released by the IPL earlier this month, there will be 12 double-headers with the first match starting at 3:30 p.m. IST. All evening matches are scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. IST.
All matches in one State, and a new format
It may be recalled that the IPL 2021 was laid low for a bit after several players tested positive for Corona virus and tournament had to be halted mid-way in May last year. It was eventually shifted to the IPL's favourite overseas venue UAE, and the remaining part of the tournament was concluded in October.
Thanks to that lingering fear of Covid, the League phase of this new edition will be played in a bio-secure environment at a single hub to avoid air travel.
All the 70 league matches will be played across four venues in Mahrashtra -- Mumbai and Pune. The venues for the last four matches are to be decided later.
In Mumbai, Wankhede Stadium will host 20 matches, Brabourne Stadium (CCI) 15, and DY Patil Stadium 20. Pune’s MCA International Stadium has been allotted 15 matches.
All teams get to play four matches each at Wankhede Stadium and DY Patil Stadium, three matches each at Brabourne Stadium and MCA International Stadium.
In the league phase, each teams will play a total of 14 matches (7 home matches and 7 away matches). Each team will play 5 teams twice and the remaining 4 teams only once.
Explained: The new format
The team's classification allows for such a new format. The teams have been put in two virtual groups based on the number of IPL titles won followed by the number of final matches played by the respective teams.
Five-time IPL champion Mumbai Indians (MI) is the top-ranked team having won the trophy most times, followed by CSK, which has four titles.
Group A comprises Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals, and Lucknow Super Giants. Group B is made up of: Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings, and Gujarat Titans.
Each team will play twice with the teams in their group and with the team in the same row in the second group. With the rest of the teams in the second group, it will play only once during the season.
For example, Group A side MI will play twice against KKR, RR, DC, LSG and also with CSK who are in the same row but in the next group. MI will play once against SRH, RCB, PBKS and GT.
In Group B, RCB will play 2 matches against CSK, SRH, PBKS, and GT. RCB will also play 2 matches against RR and 1 match each against other teams in Group A.
At the end of 70 matches, the four teams with the most number of points will qualify for the playoffs.
All the teams: No clear favourite
The teams, with new additions, wear a different look. Talking of the newcomers, Gujarat Titans will be led by all-rounder Hardik Pandya and coached by former Indian left-arm bowler Ashish Nehra. Lucknow Super Giants will be playing with KL Rahul as the skipper and former Zimbabwe Wicket keeper captain Andy Flower as coach.
Among the existing ones, Kolkata Knight Riders has a new skipper Shreyas Iyer, Punjab Kings too has a new captain in Mayank Agarwal. The biggest talking point in captain's news though has been RCB. After Virta Kohli stepped down, the franchise has handed the captain's hat to the South African Faf du Plessis.
You can check out the detailed squad of all the teams presented at the tail-end of this story.
This is one edition of the IPL that wears an open look without one outright favourite going into the tournament.
Ravi Shastri back as commentator
Disney Star Sports Network, which also owns the Disney+ Hotstar OTT platform, has worked out broadcast schedule for the IPL 2022 in 8 Languages. The IPL 2022 will be available live on all its 24 network channels and platforms in Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam & Bengali. It has put together an 80-member commentary panel in different languages for the telecasts.
Among the talking points is the return of Ravi Shastri, the commentator turned Indian coach, to the commentary box. His last stint in the IPL as a commentator was seven years back. IPL legend from CSK Suresh Raina is one of the new additions in the commentary team in Hindi.
World Feed IPL commentary team: Sunil Gavaskar, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Murali Kartik, Deep Dasgupta, Ian Bishop, Mbangwa, Nicholas Knight, Danny Morrison, Simon Doull, Matthew Hayden, Kevin Pietersen, Alan Wilkins, Anjum Chopra and Harsha Bhogle.
Dugout: Anant Tyagi, Neroli Meadows, Scott Styris, Graeme Swann.
Hindi: Aakash Chopra, Irfan Pathan, Gautam Gambhir, Parthiv Patel, Nikhil Chopra, Tanya Purohit, Kiran More, Jatin Sapru and Suren Sundaram, Ravi Shastri, Suresh Raina.
Bengali: Saradindu Mukherjee, Gautam Bhattacharya, Joydeep Mukherjee, Debasish Datta.
Tamil: Muthuraman R, RK, Bhavna, RJ Balaji, S Badrinath, Abhinav Mukund, S Ramesh, Nanee & K Srikkanth.
Kannada: Madhu Mailankody, Kiran Srinivas, Srinivasa Murthy P, Vijay Bharadwaj, Bharath Chipli, GK Anil Kumar, Venkatesh Prasad, Veda Krishnamurthy, Sumesh Goni and Vinay Kumar R
Marathi: Kunal Date, Prasanna Sant, Chaitanya Sant, Snehal Pradhan, Sandeep Patil.
Malayalam: Vishnu Hariharan, Shiyas Mohammed, Tinu Yohannan, Raiphi Gomez and C M Deepak.
Telugu: M A S Krishna, N Matcha, V V Medapati, MSK Prasad, A Reddy, K N Chakravarthy, S Avulapalli, Kalyan Krishna D, Venugopalarao & T Suman.
On App and OTT platforms
As we said, the matches will stream live on Disney Plus Hotstar. You will need to have a VIP or premium account to be able to do so. You directly can subscribe to Disney Plus Hotstar on its official website. Another way of having a subscription is by purchasing a Jio or Airtel Prepaid plan that includes access to Disney Plus Hotstar.
And here are some of the subscription plans for the platform:
• Premium (Rs 299/month or Rs 1499/year): up to two devices
• Mobile (Rs 499/year): 1 mobile device only
• Super (Rs 899/year): 2 devices
Jio
The matches can be caught on JioTV app too, which can be downloaded from Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. When using the app, you can stream the IPL live on Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 2 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, or Star Sports 3.
To get access to the live stream, you should be a Jio sim card user with a prepaid plan. Here are some of the plans that you can get from Jio:
• 56 Days Validity Pack (Rs 598): 2GB Data + Hotstar VIP account
• 28 Days Validity Pack (Rs 401): 3GB Data every day + Hotstar VIP account
• 84 Days Validity Pack (777 rupees): 1.5GB data with Hotstar VIP
• 365 Days Validity Pack (Rs 2599): 2GB Data + Hotstar VIP
• 56 Days Validity Pack (Rs 499): 1.5 Data + Hotstar VIP
Airtel
Here is the list of Airtel plans that you can choose from if you want to stream the IPL live:
• Rs 401 Recharge Plan: Valid for 28 days with 3GB data per day
• Rs 448 Recharge Plan: Valid for 28 days with 3GB data and unlimited calls and 100 SMS a day
• Rs 599 Recharge Plan: Valid for 56 days with 2GB data, unlimited voice calls, and 100 SMS a day
• Rs 2698 Recharge Plan: Valid for 365 days with 2GB data, unlimited calls, and 100 SMS a day.
IPL 2022: All the squads
Chennai Super Kings (CSK): MS Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Devon Conway, Ambati Rayudu, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, Dwayne Bravo, Shivam Dube, Dwaine Pretorius, Subhranshu Senapati, Chris Jordan, Adam Milne, Mukesh Choudhary, Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Simranjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Mitchell Santner, K Bhagath Varma.
Head Coach: Stephen Fleming. Batting Coach: Michael Hussey. Bowling Coach: Lakshmipathy Balaji. Fielding Coach: Rajiv Kumar.
Delhi Capitals (DC): Rishabh Pant (captain and wicketkeeper), Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Mandeep Singh, Rovman Powell, Tim Seifert, Mitchell Marsh, Lalit Yadav, Ashwin Hebbar, Sarfaraz Khan, KS Bharat, Yash Dhull, Anrich Nortje, Shardul Thakur, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Axar Patel, Mustafizur Rahman, Lungi Ngidi, Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, Praveen Dubey, Kuldeep Yadav, Ripal Patel, Vicky Ostwal.
Head Coach: Ricky Ponting. Assistant Coaches: Shane Watson, Ajit Agarkar, Pravin Amre. Fast Bowling Coach: James Hopes.
Gujarat Titans (GT): Hardik Pandya (captain), Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Shubman Gill, David Miller, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Sai Sudarshan, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rahul Tewatia, Matthew Wade (wicketkeeper), Abhinav Sadarangani, Dominic Drakes, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Varun Aaron, Darshan Nalkande, Yash Dayal, Pradeep Sangwan, Alzarri Joseph, Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad.
Head Coach: Ashish Nehra. Batting Coach and Mentor: Gary Kirsten. Spin Bowling Coach: Aashish Kapoor.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): Shreyas Iyer (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Aaron Finch, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Sam Billings (wicketkeeper), Chamika Karunaratne, Pat Cummins, Mohammad Nabi, Rinku Singh, Abhijeet Tomar, Pratham Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Sheldon Jackson, Baba Indrajith, Varun Chakravarty, Rasikh Dar, Ashok Sharma, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Anukul Roy.
Head Coach: Brendon McCullum. Assistant Coach: Abhishek Nayar. Assistant Bowling Coach: Omkar Salvi. Fielding Coach: James Foster.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG): KL Rahul (captain and wicketkeeper), Manan Vohra, Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Evin Lewis, Manish Pandey, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Hooda, Jason Holder, Marcus Stoinis, Kyle Mayers, Ravi Bishnoi, Dushmantha Chameera, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mohsin Khan, Mayank Yadav, Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Mark Wood, Karan Sharma, Krishnappa Gowtham, Ayush Badoni.
Head Coach: Andy Flower. Assistant Coach: Vijay Dahiya. Bowling Coach: Andy Bichel. Fielding Coach: Richard Halsall.
Mumbai Indians (MI): Rohit Sharma (captain), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Kieron Pollard, Tilak Varma, Anmolpreet Singh, Dewald Brevis, Ramandeep Singh, Rahul Buddhi, Aryan Juyal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Arshad Khan, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Jofra Archer, Tymal Mills, Riley Meredith, Murugan Ashwin, Basil Thampi, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Sanjay Yadav, Daniel Sams, Fabian Allen.
Head Coach: Mahela Jayawardene. Batting Coach: Robin Singh. Bowling Coach: Shane Bond. Fielding Coach: James Pamment.
Punjab Kings (PBKS): Mayank Agarwal (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Shahrukh Khan, Liam Livingstone, Rishi Dhawan, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Writtick Chatterjee, Odean Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Bawa, Nathan Ellis, Vaibhav Arora, Ishan Porel, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Benny Howell, Baltej Singh, Ansh Patel, Atharva Taide.
Head Coach: Anil Kumble. Assistant Coach: Jonty Rhodes. Batting Consultant: Julian Wood. Bowling Coach: Damien Wright. Assistant Fielding Coach: Prabhakar Bairgond.
Rajasthan Royals (RR): Sanju Samson (captain and wicketkeeper), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair, Rassie van der Dussen, Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Jos Buttler, James Neesham, Daryl Mitchell, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna, Trent Boult, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Garhwal, Kuldip Yadav, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Obed McCoy, Tejas Baroka, KC Kariappa, Anunay Singh.
Head Coach: Kumar Sangakkara. Assistant Coach: Trevor Penney. Batting Coach: Amol Mazumdar. High-performance Fast Bowling Coach: Steffan Jones. Fast Bowling Coach: Lasith Malinga. Fielding Coach: Dishant Yagnik.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB): Faf du Plessis (captain), Virat Kohli, Suyash Prabhudessai, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Anuj Rawat, Finn Allen, Luvnith Sisodia, Josh Hazlewood, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Wanindu Hasaranga, Karn Sharma, Jason Behrendorff, Siddarth Kaul, Chama Milind, Akash Deep, David Willey, Mahipal Lomror, Sherfane Rutherford, Aneeshwar Gautam, Shahbaz Ahmed.
Head Coach: Sanjay Bangar. Batting and Spin Bowling Coach: Sridharan Sriram. Bowling Coach: Adam Griffith.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH): Kane Williamson (captain), Nicholas Pooran (wicketkeeper), Aiden Markram, Shashank Singh, Romario Shepherd, Ravikumar Samarth, Rahul Tripathi, Priyam Garg, Glenn Phillips, Vishnu Vinod, Washington Sundar, Umran Malik, Saurabh Dubey, Fazal Farooqi, Jagadeesha Suchith, Shreyas Gopal, Kartik Tyagi, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abdul Samad, Marco Jansen, Sean Abbott, Abhishek Sharma.
Head Coach: Tom Moody. Batting Coach: Brian Lara. Pace Bowling Coach: Dale Steyn. Spin Bowling Coach: Muttiah Muralitharan. Fielding Coach: Hemang Badani.
