Bengaluru: The 10th season of the Indian Premier League gets underway on Wednesday,April 5 with defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad hosting last season finalist Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Royal Challengers will miss their captain Virat Kohli owing to shoulder injury. T-20 crowd puller A B De Villiers was sidelined for the opener due to back problem. Middle-order batsman Sarfaraz Khan injured his leg during practice and is likely to be unavailable for the whole tournament as well. They are also without their first-choice wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul, who played the Tests against Australia despite carrying a shoulder injury, for the entire IPL season.
The defending champions Sunrisers are without Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman, who is playing in Sri Lanka until April 8, but have no other injury concerns at the moment.
New comers Pawan Negi and Tymal Mills are likely to figure in the RCB playing eleven, led by Australian Shane Watson.
All eyes will be on big hitting openers Chris Gayle (RCB) and David Warner (SRH) in the opener,
IPL is a mixed bag scandal and success beloved by India and watched across the globe.The latest edition of the glitzy league — famous for its pyrotechnics, cheerleaders and huge signing bonuses — gets under way
Since its debut in 2008 the shorter version league has evolved into India’s most popular sporting event, filling stadiums and attracting TV audiences in the cricket frenzy sub continent..
“Its unique selling proposition is that most of the stadiums are packed, and it is being watched around the world,” opined Rajeev Shukla chairman IPL .
Its appeal has outlasted numerous controversies — most notably corruption and match-fixing charges — that at times have raised more eyebrows than the showy theatrics on the pitch.
A host of international stars have become household names in India, shaping their careers on the IPL stage or resurrecting former glories.
Likely Playing XI
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Moises Henriques, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Naman Ojha (wk), 7 Ben Cutting/Chris Jordan, 8 Bipul Sharma, 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Ashish Nehra
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Mandeep Singh, 3 Travis Head, 4 Shane Watson (capt), 5 Kedar Jadhav (wk), 6 Sachin Baby, 7 Stuart Binny, 8 Pawan Negi, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Tymal Mills, 11 Aniket Choudhary/Harshal Patel
When
05 April 2017, 2000 Hrs IST
Where
Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad
