Last Updated on 2 years by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: IPL 2023: Predicted Playing XI Of Each Team | Predicted playing XIs for all the teams in IPL 2023
The 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to commence with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) taking on the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in the season opener on March 31, 2023. The 16th campaign of the competition will begin with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement amongst the spectators for all the participating franchises.
IPL 2023: Predicted XIs for each team
The pre-competition buzz if rife with speculations over the predicted playing XI for each side and CricBlog takes a brief look at the same for all the 10 teams in this article.
Gujarat Titans
Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Kane Williamson, Hardik Pandya (C), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Shivam Mavi, Mohammed Shami, R Sai Kishore, Alzarri Joseph.
Gujarat will walk into the field with a fairly similar playing XI like last time around. Their batting order will be bolstered by the addition of Kane Williamson at number three, who can play the anchor and allow the others around him to adopt a more aggressive approach. David Miller will miss the first game due to national commitments, but will slot right in once back.
The Titans’ strength rests in the lower middle-order’s hitting powers, who bailed them out on many an occasion last year. The pace attack has a new dimension in it with Shivam Mavi coming in and the duo of Rashid Khan and R Sai Kishore infuse enough variety to make good use to the long boundaries particularly in the middle-overs in their home turf.
Rajasthan Royals
Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (C & WK), Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Jason Holder, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal.
The Rajasthan Royals lacked balance in their lower middle-order, which prompted Ravichandran Ashwin to bat higher up the order at times. That impediment is resolved now with the acquisition of Jason Holder, who is most likely to bat at six or seven this year.
The Royals will miss Prasidh Krishna due to an injury but tearaway pacer Kuldeep Sen now will get an elongated opportunity to make an impact. The rest of the side will look fairly same with a very strong core strengthened by multiple international stars in all concerned departments.
Lucknow Super Giants
Quinton de Kock (WK), KL Rahul (C), Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Marcus Stoinis, Krishnappa Gowtham, Mark Wood, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan.
Quinton de Kock will miss the initial few games of the season due to South Africa’s series against the Netherlands. Hence, the first XI of the Lucknow Super Giants might be a bit different to the aforementioned side for some time.
However, the previous season’s third-place finishers have a good batting order with a cracking opening partnership and an out-and-out express pacer in Mark Wood. The spin attack looks a bit fragile if Ravi Bishnoi fails to get in the groove and it will be interesting to see if Lucknow manage to sustain their form from the first season.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Faf du Plessis (C), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Shahbaz Ahmed, Mahipal Lomror, Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will have to counter the injury layoff of bowling mainstay Josh Hazelwood in the coming season. English pacer Reece Topley can replace the Australian in a XI that will see little changes from the previous campaign.
Their top-five boasts of incredible quality and would need to fire consistently for Bangalore to make it to the playoffs first. They will hope that Harshal Patel recovers back some of his wicket-taking touch and will be looking forward to Wanindu Hasaranga to have another promising campaign this time around.
Delhi Capitals
David Warner (C), Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh, Sarfaraz Khan (WK), Rovman Powell, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Anrich Nortje, Mukesh Kumar.
For Delhi, the absence of Rishabh Pant has added greater responsibility and pressure on the rest of the batting unit. Mumbai’s star batsman Sarfaraz Khan is expected to don the gloves and he will hope to carry on his incredible form from the domestic circuit into this IPL season.
Delhi have a fine leader in their ranks in the form of David Warner but vice-captain Axar Patel might have to perform better with the bat to add further solidity to the lower middle-order. Bengal pacer Mukesh Kumar, acquired for Rs 5.5 crore, can be a breakout star for the franchise.
Punjab Kings
Shikhar Dhawan (C), Matt Short, Raj Angad Bawa, Bhanuka Rajapaksa/Sikandar Raza, Shahrukh Khan, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Sam Curran, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh.
The Punjab Kings will be severely handicapped by the absence of Jonny Bairstow and that will reflect in the experience showing up in the middle-order. They will hope for the English all-rounder duo of Liam Livingstone and Sam Curran to deliver the goods with the bat more consistently. In a further blow, Livingstone is out of the first match at least due to an ongoing ankle problem.
Shikhar Dhawan will guarantee a bank of runs at the top and Bhanuka Rajapaksa could be tasked to optimise the powerplay overs. Kagiso Rabada will spearhead the bowling unit but it appears that Punjab might have to play to the best of their abilities to finish in the top-four at least.
Note: Rabada will miss the first match also due to South Africa commitments.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Venkatesh Iyer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Nitish Rana (C), N Jagadeesan (WK), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy.
Much like Delhi, even Kolkata will miss the services of their skipper Shreyas Iyer who will most likely miss out of the coming season due to his back injury. Nitish Rana will be leading the team with Tamil Nadu’s star Narayan Jagadeesan a chance to open the batting with all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer.
The bowling unit has plenty of pace and quality with the likes of Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur whereas the spin unit iizes nystery with the duo of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. The middle-order might miss an anchor who can hold the batting order together but Kolkata has quite a few match-winners who can take the game away from the opposition on their day.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram (C), Harry Brook, Heinrich Klassen (WK), Washington Sundar, Adil Rashid, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik, T Natarajan.
A new-look Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) unit will be heading into the coming IPL season under the leadership of South African batsman Aiden Markram. Their middle-order has abundant firepower with Rahul Tripathi, Harry Brook and the captain. The opening spot is strengthened with Mayank Agarwal and there will be a toss-up between Heinrich Klassen and Glenn Phillips. The pace attack comprises the trio of Umran Malik, T Natarajan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar with England leggie Adil Rashid having to fill in the boots of former SRH bowling mainstay Rashid Khan.
Chennai Super Kings
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (C & WK), Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki.
The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have the star all-rounder trio of Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes and Ravindra Jadeja in their ranks and this separates them from the rest of the sides in the league. Their batting has accumulators in the form of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway with Stokes expected to be the pillar around which the other batsmen revolve.
The bowling will miss the services of previous year’s star man Mukesh Choudhary but Simarjeet Singh could replace him to partner Deepak Chahar in the XI. Chennai have the option of replacing Conway with Ajinkya Rahane at the top and adding Matheesha Pathirana or Sisanda Magala to add further bite to their bowling attack.
Also, Maheesh Theekshana will miss the first match due to Sri Lanka’s series in New Zealand, but he will be vital for CSK throughout the season.
Mumbai Indians
Rohit Sharma (C), Ishan Kishan (WK), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Ramandeep Singh, Jofra Archer, Jason Behrendorff, Arshad Khan, Kumar Kartikeya.
The Mumbai Indians will have to work hard to spark a turnaround and avoid a repeat of their bottom-placed finish in the previous campaign. They will be buzzing with the return of Jofra Archer but will want the opening duo of Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan to find form early on in the tournament. The middle-order has enough firepower and big-hitting abilities with the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Cameron Green and Tim David but the bowling unit arguably is lacking in experience with Archer and Jason Benrendorff expected to shoulder most of the responsibilities eventually.
