IPL returns in India, but crowds remain under COVID restrictions. 10 points

IPL 2022: 10 points to note

• International T20 greats like Australia’s David Warner and England’s Jos Buttler will be back for two months of high-octane cricket, but fellow Englishman Ben Stokes and West Indies legend Chris Gayle are the big names who will be missing.
• The teams, based on their previous IPL records, will be split into two groups of five for a 70-match regular season that promises to be fully completed for the first time in India since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• 10 teams spent $75 million to buy 204 players in last month’s auction, with Mumbai Indians bringing back Ishan Kishan for $2 million. England batsman Liam Livingstone was the costliest overseas player to have cost Punjab Kings $1.52 million to cement their bid for the first IPL title.
• The two new teams – set up at a combined cost of $1.6 billion – are Gujarat Titans, owned by US venture capital fund CVC, and Lucknow Super Giants, backed by Indian tycoon Sanjeev Goenka.
• Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians have been the most successful team in the IPL, winning a record five titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020.
• Chennai Super Kings, led by veteran former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, are the defending champions and will open the season against Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
• The two-month-long event will see a total of 74 matches, with Australia’s Ricky Ponting and Tom Moody, New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming and Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene being coached by some of cricket’s former greats.
• Debutant Gujarat Titans have dismissed Afghanistan’s high-class spinner Rashid Khan, but England’s Jofra Archer’s explosive pace may not be on display for Mumbai Indians as he missed the Ashes in Australia with an elbow injury Were.
• The tournament began in India in April last year, but had to be suspended a month later at the halfway point as Covid infections escalated across the country.
• It eventually resumed in the United Arab Emirates in September, with Chennai Super Kings defeating Kolkata Knight Riders in the final on 15 October in Dubai. The pandemic also forced the IPL to be played in the United Arab Emirates in 2020.