The first match of IPL 2023 will take place on the 31st of March when Gujarat Titans, the defending champions, will play against Chennai Super Kings led by M.S. Dhoni. This is the first time after 2019 that the tournament will return to its conventional home-and-away format in this country. The final will take place on the 28th of May in Ahmedabad as well.
The commencement of the IPL will start five days following the inaugural Women’s Premier League final on the 26th of March. All the 10 teams participating in this tournament will be in action on the opening weekend. Apart from CSK playing Titans on Friday, the Kolkata Knight Riders will play against Punjab Kings in Mohali, Sunrisers Hyderabad will play against Rajasthan Royals in the city of Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru, and Delhi Capitals will play against Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow on first April.
Even though the schedule for 4 playoff matches hasn’t been announced till now, the final will take place in Ahmedabad for sure.
All the teams participating in this tournament are divided into a couple of groups similar to last season. In Group A, the teams consist of Knight Riders, Mumbai, Capitals, Royals, and Super Giants, while in the other group, the teams consist of Super Kings, Titans, Royal Challengers, Kings, along with Sunrisers. However, each team is going to play the five teams belonging to the other group 2 times and the remaining 4 from their own group only once. This makes a total of 14 league matches for every team.
There will be 70 matches in total in the league phase
There are as many as 70 matches in the league phase that will go on for 52 days from 31st March to 21st May in as many as 12 cities in India. Apart from the 10 regular venues, namely, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Jaipur, Delhi, and Mohali, some matches will also take place in Dharamsala (the second home of the Kings) and Guwahati (the second home of the Royals).
It is in Guwahati that the Royals will play their initial couple of home games and they will play the rest in Jaipur. On the contrary, the Kings will play the initial five home games in Mohali and the last couple of home games in Dharamsala.
Chennai Super Kings versus Mumbai Indians in the 1000th IPL match
As many as 18 double-headers will take place in this IPL during the league stage on Sunday and Saturday. Super Kings and Mumbai, the two most successful teams in IPL history will play each other twice on 8th April and 6th of May. Incidentally, the second match will become the 1000th IPL match since its inauguration in the year 2008. Meanwhile, Super Kings will return to their original home ground in Chennai at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
