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Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni: (Image Source: Twitter)
The Indian Cricket Board have announced the schedule for the upcoming season of the Indian T20 League. The tournament will kick off on March 31 and the first match of the 16th edition of the cash-rich league will be played between defending champion Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat and MS Dhoni’s Chennai.
It will begin five days after the final of the inaugural edition of the Women’s T20 League on March 26. The league phase comprises 70 matches which will be played from March 31 to May 21, spanning 12 cities. In addition to the ten regular venues Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, and Mohali, some matches will be played in Guwahati (Rajasthan's second home), and Dharamsala (Punjab's second home).
The last time when the league was played across all the traditional venues in India was in 2019. In 2020, the tournament had to be postponed from the March-May window to September-November and moved to the UAE because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The same happened in 2021 as half of the tournament was played in Summer in India but due to Covid-19, it was rescheduled to be played in UAE in September.
Gujarat won the last season of the Indian T20 League
Talking about the last season, Gujarat surprised everyone by lifting the Indian T20 League title in their maiden season, clinching seven-wicket victory over Rajasthan in the final. Gujarat's highly-rated bowling attack, led by skipper Pandya (3/17) himself, limited a formidable Rajasthan batting unit to 130 for nine after losing the toss. Shubman Gill and David Miller remained unbeaten on 45 and 32, respectively, to complete an emphatic win for their team.
Star opener and Rajasthan’s batter Jos Buttler finished as the leading run-scorer as he scored 863 runs in the 15th edition of the tournament. Buttler hit altogether 45 sixes during the entire tournament, which was also the highest. He also bagged six individual prizes and a total cash of sixty lakhs.
Check out the full schedule here:
Full schedule of IPL 2023. pic.twitter.com/9WdSMFejBG
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) February 17, 2023