This year’s IPL has witnessed many firsts after the introduction of two new franchises i.e. Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants. Both the IPL newbies produced some superlative performances and ended up finishing in the playoffs in their debut season.
While Gujarat Titans stormed into the finals in their debut season – under the leadership of star India all-rounder Hardik Pandya. KL Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants bowed out from the tournament after losing the Eliminator against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Hardik Pandya – who was not retained by five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians ahead of the IPL 2022 auction – proved to the world that he is a natural leader as well. The Baroda cricketer lead his team from the front and took them to the finals as the rest of his teammates also made valuable contributions.
As IPL 2022 nears its end the focus now shifts to the next season of the IPL which will be held in 2023.
Here’s all information available about the next IPL season:
Host Country
The IPL 2023 will be held at home i.e. India. The tournament will be shifted outside the country on the only one condition which is if another wave of COVID-19 pandemic hits the world.
Start Date
Although the BCCI hasn’t yet officially announced the dates of the IPL 2023, the tournament’s 16th edition is going to happen in its scheduled window i.e. March end to May end. It will be something similar to IPL 2022.
The IPL 2022 which was a 10-team affair will continue to be played in the same format next year as well. Hence the IPL 2023 will most probably be held over a course of 60 to 65 days. IPL 2022 was a 65-day tournament, the longest in the history of the competition.
Format:
Due to 10 teams, the tournament will be held in the same format, wherein the teams will be divided into two groups of five each.
All 10 teams will play a total of 14 league matches (7 home matches and 7 away matches) totalling 70 league matches, followed by the 4 playoff matches.
The number of league matches being played by all teams will be equal — 14 but all the teams will not play against each other twice. Each team will play 5 teams twice and the remaining 4 teams only once (2 only home and 2 only away).
To decide on the above, teams will be divided into two virtual groups based on the number of IPL Championships won followed by the number of Final matches played by the respective teams.
Each team will play the other teams in its group twice, which makes it eight matches. In the remaining six games (in balance), they will play against the five teams in the other group that will make it 14 league games.
Auction:
The IPL 2023 auction will be a mini-auction as the 2022 season witnessed a mega auction. The franchises will release a few players from their squad to fine-tune and blood some new talents into the side ahead of the new season. The IPL Auction process for the 2023 season might be conducted in the month of December. However, an official announcement from IPL Governing Council will be made at a later date.
Teams List
IPL 2023 will be a 10-team affair, hence, the teams will be as follows:
Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Titans, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Lucknow Super Giants, Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Kolkata Knight Riders.
Venues:
In all probability, all the teams will get a chance to play at their home venues in IPL 2023. Hence the tournament will be played at a minimum of 10 venues.
So the venues for IPL 2023 will be as follows:
CSK – MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
MI – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
GT – Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
RR – Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
PBKS – PCA Stadium, Mohali
DC – Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi
LSG – Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium (Ekana), Lucknow
KKR – Eden Gardens, Kolkata
RCB – M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
SRH – Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad
