The Indian Premier League gets underway on Friday when the Chennai Super Kings begin the defence of a title they won in dramatic fashion last May.
Ravindra Jadeja’s final-over heroics in a rain-shortened victory over the Gujarat Titans ensured Chennai landed a joint-record fifth IPL championship.
The Titans, who came out on top in 2022, should be in the mix again despite the loss of captain Hardik Pandya to the Mumbai Indians while the Rajasthan Royals may never have a better chance to add to their solitary title of 2008.
- BACK GUJARAT TITANS TO WIN THE 2024 IPL
Format Stays The Same
The format of the tournament will be just like last year as each team plays 14 matches each until, after a 70-match League stage, the top four sides go through to the playoffs.
The top two teams face off in Qualifier 1 with the winner advancing straight to the final and the loser then meeting the team that wins the Eliminator, contested by the third and fourth-placed sides from the League Stage.
The winner of that game, called Qualifier 2, then meets the winner of Qualifier 1 in the final.
Last year's super-sized scoring rate of just shy of nine runs per over broke tournament records with the Impact Player rule playing a major part in the breakneck batting displays.
That rule remains in place but, in a bid to even things up between bat and ball, bowlers will be allowed to deliver two bouncers an over.
Big Money Moves Make Offseason Headlines
The Kolkata Knight Riders will hope Mitchell Starc gives them good value for money after making the Australian paceman the most expensive player in IPL history at last December's auction.
His international captain Pat Cummins, who opted out of IPL 2023 to focus on the Ashes, was not far behind as he joined the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
But arguably the biggest offseason move came when the Mumbai Indians paid a hefty transfer fee to bring Gujarat Titans captain Pandya back to the place where he won four IPL titles between 2015-2021.
Shubman Gill, who wore the Orange Cap as last year's highest run scorer, takes over as skipper for the Ahmedabad-based franchise.
Titans Remain Team To Trust
The Titans still have plenty of experience with Kane Williamson, who missed last year's tournament with a knee injury, starring in their top order and Rashid Khan, the IPL’s top spinner last year, leading their attack.
Coached by Ashish Nehra, who led the newly-formed team to the top of the League table and the title in their inaugural campaign, the Titans will have a great chance of regaining the trophy.
Gujarat did their best to compensate for the loss of Pandya by recruiting talented Afghan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai, who finished with figures of 4-0-9-4 against Ireland on Monday.
They added some useful variety to their attack with the signing of Aussie left-arm quick Spencer Johnson while the slow bowling department, headed by Khan and Noor Ahmad, has been bolstered by the addition of former Punjab Kings offs-pinning all-rounder Shahrukh Khan.
The Titans are trustworthy course-and-distance competitors that go into the season without the weight of expectation that surrounds some of their big-spending rivals.
Their campaign begins at home to Pandya's Indians on the third evening of the tournament before they go into a rematch of last year's final in Chennai two nights later, so they will have to come out firing on all cylinders.
But Nehra's team won three of their first four matches last season and their first three in 2022, so fast starts are nothing new to the Titans.
BACK GUJARAT TITANS TO WIN THE 2024 IPL
