IPL 2018: Here's how teams stack up

Defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) will take on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Saturday, in the first match of Indian Premier League (IPL)’s eleventh season.

The proceedings will officially begin on Saturday evening with a glamorous opening ceremony at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

The match will also mark the return of CSK into the IPL fold, who have served a two-season suspension along with Rajasthan Royals (RR).

Also read: Biggest media rights deals in sports: Here’s where IPL stands

Match timings and schedule

There will be at least one IPL match every day starting April 7 till May 27, except for May 21, 24 and 26.

Just like the previous season, the tournament is divided into two phases — double round robin league and playoffs knockout.

Matches will begin at 20:00 IST while the some matches will begin at 16:00 IST during double-headers. The final will be held on May 27 in Mumbai.

Here’s the full schedule for IPL 2018.

Team profiles:

Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Captain: MS Dhoni
Coach: Stephen Fleming
Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium

In 2017: Did Not Play

The Chennai-based team is coming back into the IPL after a hiatus of two years. While the franchise has managed to retain core players and icons such as MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja, the team may take some time to settle down in the high-pitched tournament.

The team, sporting yellow, have now got the services of Imran Tahir and pacer Lungi Ngidi too. The side would be hoping to make it to the Playoffs with ease.

Delhi Daredevils (DD)

Captain: Gautam Gambhir
Coach: Ricky Ponting
Venue: Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium

In 2017: Sixth

The franchise from the National Capital went into the auction with an intention of spending big bucks. They have come out with a strong team.

Ricky Ponting, as a coach is likely to add aggression to the side, which has been lacking in the previous editions.

The Daredevils will be hoping to clinch their first IPL title, led by home boy Gautam Gambhir.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Captain: Dinesh Karthik
Coach: Jacques Kallis
Venue: Eden Gardens

In 2017: Third

The revamped side has plenty of room to manoeuvre. KKR now has Chris Lynn and Robin Uthappa at the top and multiple spin option with Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav.

The squad also has Andre Russell, Nitish Rana and Under-19 World Cup star Shubhman Gill.

However, with Mitchell Johnson’s best behind him, Mitchell Starc may come under too much pressure. That remains and are of concern for the side.

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP)

Captain: Ravichandran Ashwin
Coach: Virendra Sehwag
Venue: IS Bindra Stadium,

League position in 2017: Fifth

The Mohali-based side can boast of a balanced side this time. The side has some explosive batsmen such as Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, Yuvraj Singh and David Miller. They also have tremendous spin power with skipper Ashwin and Axar Patel. The side however lacks experience in the pace bowling department.

Mumbai Indians (MI)

Captain: Rohit Sharma
Coach: Mahela Jayawardene
Venue: Wankhede Stadium

In 2017: Champions

The defending champions tried hard to retain their winning squad and ended up retaining the team’s core including Kieron Pollard, the Pandya brothers and Jasprit Bumrah, albeit Harbhajan Singh. However, the Mumbai Indians have managed to put together a very strong side.

Rohit Sharma has tremendous experience as a captain and is willing hoping to lead them to their record fourth IPL title.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)

Captain: Virat Kohli
Coach: Daniel Vettori
Venue: M Chinnaswamy Stadium

In 2017: Eight

It is hard to believe a side that is led by Virat Kohli and that included the likes of Chris Gayle (until now) and AB de Villiers has not tasted the ultimate victory yet. They have been runners-up thrice.

Kohli is entering the battle field backed by a very strong side on paper. However, they will have to be perform as a unit and not rely on individual performances as they have in the past.

The Bangalore-based team will be raring to display their firebrand-style of cricket and clinch their maiden title.

Rajasthan Royals (RR)

Captain: Ajinkya Rahane
Coach: TBA
Venue: Sawai Mansingh Stadium

In 2017: Did Not Play

The Jaipur side includes several players which played for last year’s runners-up Rising Pune Supergiant. This includes their skipper Ajinkya Rahane, Jaydev Unadkat, Ben Stokes and Rahul Tripathi.

The squad also boasts of Ben Stokes, Ben Laughlin, Dhawal Kulkarni, Sanju Samson and Heinrich Klaasen.

The Royals will however miss the services of Steve Smith, as he was banned after pleading guilty to ball-tampering.

They would be hoping to make a mark in the year when they are returning to the tournament.

SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH)

Captain: Kane Williamson
Coach: Tom Moody
Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium

In 2017: Fourth

With the departure of David Warner, due to the ball-tampering scandal, the reigns of the side are now with Kane Williamson.

The squad boasts of Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Carlos Braithwaite, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan, among others and certainly looks strong on paper.

The Hyderabad team played well in 2017 but fumbled in the Eliminator. They would want to cross the final few hurdles with a more balanced side.

What’s new?

DRS

BCCI is set to introduce the controversial Decision Review System (DRS) in the IPL. According to reports, the Board has agreed to use the technology after HawkEye created UltraEdge and increased the frame rates per second.

Mid-season transfers

For the first time, a short five-day transfer window has been crated on the lines of league football elsewhere in the world. Only uncapped players, who have played no more than two matches at that point of time, will be eligible for transfers.

Also read: Meet owners of the 8 IPL teams taking the field in season 11

Where to watch it

In September, Star India bagged the 'Global Media Rights' of IPL for a period of five years (2018-2023) for a whopping Rs 16,347.50 crore. The previous rights were held by Sony Pictures Network (SPN) since inception in 2008 till 2017.

The 'global media rights' include the Indian television, digital as well as the overseas broadcast and digital media rights.

While the regular broadcast will be in English and Hindi, Star is set to broadcast the matches on their regional channels too, in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bengali.

The broadcasting giant is also aiming to get a significant number of people watch on it Over-the-Top (OTT) platform Hotstar. Reports also suggest that Star would make matches available with Virtual Reality on Hotstar.

Star India has reportedly got 11 partners on board for advertising including Vivo, Colgate-Palmolive, MakeMyTrip, Amul, Vu Television, Coca Cola and Parle Agro.

The 21^st Century Fox firm has also reached an agreement with India’s state broadcaster Doordarshan (DD). According to the deal, DD will be allowed to telecast select matches with a delay of 60 matches. The two companies will share the revenue from such broadcasts 50:50.

Here's where you can watch the matches.