IPL 2016: It’s rush hour again
The dust has barely settled on a white-knuckle ICC World T20 before the ninth season of the Indian Premier League is upon us.
Ek India Happywala is the broadcaster’s catch-phrase this time — a dose of IPL joy for a nation in churn. But there is, it seems, not the same happiness greeting the tournament everywhere. The Bombay High Court is hearing a petition against holding IPL matches in drought-hit Maharashtra. However right or wrong linking the water crisis directly to the IPL may be, it is not a pleasant backdrop against which to begin.
The curtains will go up on the competition on Saturday, when Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants, two teams from Maharashtra, meet at the Wankhede Stadium.
CSK legacy
Pune will be led by M.S. Dhoni, who in February admitted that he had still not ‘moved on’ from Chennai Super Kings. “After eight years of IPL, it feels very different to play for any other team.
“All of a sudden if you want me to say that I am very excited to play for a new team, don’t give credit to CSK and the fans for the love and affection they have given us, it will be wrong,” he said at Pune’s jersey-launch function.
And this is the other issue this year’s IPL must contend with: the absence of CSK and Rajasthan Royals, two of the competition’s more popular and successful sides, now suspended.
Stars from the two outfits will still be in action, and there are two new franchises in Pune and Gujarat Lions, but as both Suresh Raina and Dwayne Bravo — former CSK heroes — have recognised in recent days, things will never be the same.
Dhoni and Raina, the Pune and Gujarat captains respectively, have a hard task on their hands for they are up against six settled teams.
Mumbai, the defending champion, will be among the leading contenders again. The absence of Lasith Malinga will be a blow but Jos Buttler’s arrival will reinforce a side whose core has remained unchanged.
Ek India Happywala is the broadcaster’s catch-phrase this time — a dose of IPL joy for a nation in churn. But there is, it seems, not the same happiness greeting the tournament everywhere. The Bombay High Court is hearing a petition against holding IPL matches in drought-hit Maharashtra. However right or wrong linking the water crisis directly to the IPL may be, it is not a pleasant backdrop against which to begin.
The curtains will go up on the competition on Saturday, when Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants, two teams from Maharashtra, meet at the Wankhede Stadium.
CSK legacy
Pune will be led by M.S. Dhoni, who in February admitted that he had still not ‘moved on’ from Chennai Super Kings. “After eight years of IPL, it feels very different to play for any other team.
“All of a sudden if you want me to say that I am very excited to play for a new team, don’t give credit to CSK and the fans for the love and affection they have given us, it will be wrong,” he said at Pune’s jersey-launch function.
And this is the other issue this year’s IPL must contend with: the absence of CSK and Rajasthan Royals, two of the competition’s more popular and successful sides, now suspended.
Stars from the two outfits will still be in action, and there are two new franchises in Pune and Gujarat Lions, but as both Suresh Raina and Dwayne Bravo — former CSK heroes — have recognised in recent days, things will never be the same.
Dhoni and Raina, the Pune and Gujarat captains respectively, have a hard task on their hands for they are up against six settled teams.
Mumbai, the defending champion, will be among the leading contenders again. The absence of Lasith Malinga will be a blow but Jos Buttler’s arrival will reinforce a side whose core has remained unchanged.
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