IPL 2023: The two-month-long cricketing festival in India is all set to return. The cricket extravaganza “Indian Premier League” is just a few sleeps away from now. The IPL will kick start from 31st March with the final set to take place on 28th May. The tournament opener will take place between defending champions Gujarat Titans and MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The ten-team tournament will be played in its old traditional format as all the teams will play seven home and seven away encounters, which didn’t happen since the last three years due to Covid-19 restrictions. The twelve venues across which the league will be played are Ahmedabad, Mohali, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Jaipur, Mumbai, Guwahati and Dharamsala.
IPL 2023: “We weren’t given the option,” David Miller reveals why Gujarat Titans were upset with CSA
The IPL 2023 will start from 31st March. But it will be a delayed start for the South African players as Cricket South Africa (CSA) has not given the Proteas players the NOC for the first few games. The reason behind this is that South Africa is slated to play the rescheduled remaining two ODIs against the Netherlands.
The remaining two games between South Africa and the Netherlands are slated to take place on 31st March and 2nd April in Benoni and Johannesburg respectively. This means that star players such as Aiden Markram, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, David Miller, Quinton de Kock and others will join IPL teams on 3rd April.
The franchises will be without the services of South African players in their opening game. It will be a blow for the teams as they have been the mainstay of the franchises in both battings as well as bowling, especially Gujarat Titans, who will be without the services of David Miller.
David Miller notably, was the best batter for GT in IPL 2022 and was the main reason behind the team’s success in the league last year. The southpaw scored over 480 runs and single-handedly won games for his side.
Miller has now revealed that his IPL franchise Gujarat Titans wasn’t happy with Cricket South Africa not letting players to be available from the first game. Speaking to Cricbuzz, he said: “Gujarat Titans were really upset on this. We weren’t given the option to pick between the IPL or the ODI by CSA”.
IPL 2023: Gujarat Titans (GT) squad for the tournament
Gujarat Titans had a staggering IPL auction this time around. They roped in the likes of Kane Williamson, Odean Smith, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Joshua Little and Mohit Sharma to strengthen their team. They would be looking to defend their title and win their second consecutive title.
Here’s Gujarat Titans’(GT) squad for the tournament:
Hardik Pandya (c), Shubman Gill, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudharsan, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Pradeep Sangwan, Darshan Nalkande, Jayant Yadav, R Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad, Kane Williamson, Odean Smith, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma
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