The 14th season of IPL will start from today. In the inaugural match, defending champions Mumbai Indians will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore. The match will be played at Chennai MA Chidambaram Stadium at 7.30 pm. The match will be played at the stadium, which was closed due to the Kovid plague.
The Indian captain and vice-captain will clash in the first match. Mumbai are ready to retain the core team with a strong squad and RCB is ready to bring in big players to the team at a high cost in the auction. Mumbai, who have a habit of losing the first few matches, are the best team in the IPL with five titles. The Royal Challengers, on the other hand, are a team that has often lined up superstars but has yet to win an IPL title.
It is doubtful whether Quinton Decock of Quarantine will play for Mumbai today. If Decock doesn’t play, it will pave the way for Chris Lynn. Ishant Kishan may be moved to the opening and James Neesham may play. Considering the two spinners on the spin pitch in Chepauk, Piyush Chawla or Jayant Yadav will play alongside Rahul Chahar. Coulter Nile will play if he goes down with three pacers. Bumra and Bolt are the other pacers.
In the RCB, Kovid is less likely to play Devdut, who came in negative. Without Devdutt, he may open with Malayalee player Azhar Kohli. Adam Sampa and Kane Richardson will not play. There is no other specialist spinner in the RCB to play with Yusvendra Chahal if the spin is strengthened considering the Chepauk pitch. But just because there are spin all-rounders, some of them might play. In that case, Shahbaz Ahmad or Suyash Prabhu Desai will join the team. Washington Sunder will also play. Indian players Mohammad Siraj and Navdeep Saini will lead the pace attack. Rajat Patidaro and Suyasho will play the finishing role. In the absence of Richardson, Kyle Jamieson will also feature in the squad.
Story Highlights: ipl starts today rcb vs mi today