The IPL 2023 season will see 10 teams locking horns with one another once again to claim the ultimate prize. The league had eight teams until the 2021 season, but two more teams — Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants — were added in 2022. Playoffs were reached by both teams. However, the Titans surprised everyone and won the title right in their maiden season, under the leadership of Hardik Pandya.
Gujarat Titans will now go into the IPL 2023 season, which is expected to kick off on April 1, as the defending champions. Nevertheless, the other teams will try to claim the trophy.
Which Team Turned Out To Be The Surprise Package In IPL 2022?
The biggest surprise package turned out to be the Gujarat Titans. Nobody gave them a shot at winning the title at the beginning of the campaign, but they overcame all odds to go all the way. Their success could be mainly attributed to the way their lower order batters like Hardik Pandya, David Miller and Rahul Tewatia performed. Skipper Pandya was superb with the ball as well and the entire bowling unit also did a splendid job.
Lucknow was another newcomer and they also surprised everyone by making it to the playoffs. But the team that caught everyone by surprise was none other than the Rajasthan Royals. Under the leadership of Sanju Samson, the Royals put up some spectacular performances. Although their lower middle-order was their main weakness, they managed it beautifully throughout the season and made it to the final. Samson's batting and captaincy was pretty impressive, and they looked like the favourites to win the title at one point. Instead, they finished as runners-up. Nevertheless, it was an excellent season for them.
What To Expect From IPL 2023?
Even viewers found the 2022 season to be spectacular. Nothing less is expected from the 2023 season. It remains to be seen whether we are going to get a new champion or another familiar team is going to win the title again. Out of the 10 teams, the Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals, Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore are the only teams who are yet to win the title.
The Mumbai Indians are the most successful team in IPL history with five titles to their name. CSK are second with three titles whereas KKR have also won the IPL twice. Rajasthan Royals, Gujarat Titans, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Deccan Chargers (now defunct) have won the title once each.
Each of these teams have made their squads stronger with reinforcements from the IPL 2023 Auction pool. Most of the squads look in excellent shape and thus we can expect really tough competition from all 10 teams.
A Look At The Most Promising Teams Of IPL 2023
Sunrisers Hyderabad
SRH have assembled the most promising squad for IPL 2023. Their auction work had been pretty poor all these years, but they jumped ahead and smashed it out of the park in the latest auction for the 2023 season. They have ticked almost every box and have a formidable squad at their disposal.
IPL 2023: SRH Team Players List
Anmolpreet Singh, Akeal Hosein, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mayank Dagar, Upendra Yadav, Sanvir Singh, Samarth Vyas, Vivrant Sharma, Mayank Markande, Adil Rashid, Heinrich Klaasen, Mayank Agarwal, Harry Brook, Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kartik Tyagi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik.
SRH are yet to name their captain, but it is most probably going to be Mayank Agarwal, who led Punjab Kings last year. Their batting unit looks very strong after the arrival of players like Agarwal and Harry Brook, and their bowling looks as strong as ever. It will be really disappointing if they don't make it to the final of this IPL 2023 season.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
RCB retained their core team from last season and plugged some major holes in the IPL 2023 auction. They made it to the playoffs last time and are expected to do well once again this season as they will go ahead with almost the same team. Manoj Bhandage will be a player to watch out for. The all-rounder had an impressive domestic season and is expected to play an equally impactful role for RCB
IPL 2023 RCB team
Sonu Yadav, Avinash Singh, Rajan Kumar, Manoj Bhandage, Will Jacks, Himanshu Sharma, Reece Topley, Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Suyash Prabhudessai, Rajat Patidar, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, Finn Allen, Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, David Willey, Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood, Siddarth Kaul, Akash Deep.
Mumbai Indians
The five-time IPL champions had a really poor outing last season but things are looking much better for them this time after an excellent auction. Mumbai bought rising stars like Jhye Richardson, Duan Jansen and Cameron Green in the auction and made their squad stronger.
Jofra Archer is also fit and firing now, and he is expected to form a formidable pace bowling pair with Jasprit Bumrah. The spin attack does look a bit underwhelming but there is enough promise in the batting and pace department to see them through to the playoffs.
IPL 2023: MI Team Players List
Raghav Goyal, Nehal Wadhera, Shams Mulani, Vishnu Vinod, Duan Jansen, Piyush Chawla, Jhye Richardson, Cameron Green, Rohit Sharma (c), Tim David, Ramandeep Singh, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Jofra Archer, Jasprit Bumrah, Arjun Tendulkar, Arshad Khan, Kumar Kartikeya, Hrithik Shokeen, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal.
Kolkata Knight Riders
KKR ended up finishing in seventh place in the 2022 season and missed a playoff berth by just four points. Better things are expected from them this season, though, as they have signed quality players like Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Litton Das, Shardul Thakur, Shakib Al Hasan and David Wiese.
Shreyas Iyer is going to lead them again. Players like Andre Russell and Sunil Narine have to play a highly impactful role once again for KKR to succeed in IPL 2023.
IPL 2023: KKR Team Players List
Shakib Al Hasan, Mandeep Singh, Litton Das, Kulwant Khejroliya, David Wiese, Suyash Sharma, Vaibhav Arora, N. Jagadeesan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh.
Chennai Super Kings
CSK endured a poor outing last time as they finished second from bottom in the IPL points table. But there is hope for them this season as the squad looks pretty well balanced. Moreover, the arrival of quality international all-rounders like Ben Stokes and Kyle Jamieson makes them even stronger.
Death bowling could still be an issue for CSK, but they can have a really successful season if their batting, bowling with the new ball and spinners click. They do have the squad to compete with the other nine teams and hence, we expect them to have a good outing in IPL 2023.
IPL 2023 CSK Team
Bhagath Varma, Ajay Mandal, Kyle Jamieson, Nishant Sindhu, Shaik Rasheed, Ben Stokes, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (c), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Chowdhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Deepak Chahar, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana.
Who is Going To Win The IPL This Time: Which Team Is Your Favourite in Indian Premier League 2023?
All 10 teams look really strong heading into the Indian Premier League 2023 season. Some teams do look stronger than the other teams though, but Sunrisers Hyderabad have a really good shot at winning the title this time. Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals also came close. Do you think one of these teams is going to win IPL 2023? Or do you have any other names in mind? Let us know.