The season of T20 is just over. But don’t be dishearten as the festive mood is still on because 9th season of IPL is about to start. That is why the promoters of the Indian Premier League (IPL) calls it ‘Festival of India”. The starting date has already been finalised. It will start in 9th April and will be played on Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai between unbeaten champion Mumbai Indians and new rising aspirants Pune Supergiants. The final match will also be played in the same ground, Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. According to the source in 2016, IPL total 60 matches will be played for 51days.
Suresh Raina representing a new team:
Cricketer Suresh Raina is going to lead a new team “Gujrat Lions” in 2016 IPL. He played for 8 long years for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) previously and now will be leading a new team for the first time. When he was asked who inspires him the most he took Virender Sehwag’s name. In an interview taken by Times of India Raina added “Mohammad Kaif, for starters, from my UP days. Virender Sehwag, I’ve always admired his leadership. And then, of course, MS. In fact, MS has been so happy for me and he was telling me how captaincy will add more responsibility on my shoulders and I could look forward to using that to my advantage to focus better. You don’t know where your destiny is going to take you, but it’s nice when you’ve been around with such accomplished individuals and there’s been so much to learn.”
The middle ordered batsman also shared the experience about his T20 matches. He said “I think we played some excellent cricket over the last few months before coming into the World T20. Even in the tournament, we played well but unfortunately couldn’t get past the semi-final. There were so many factors that weren’t in our favour – the toss, which saw us bowling second, so we had to deal with the dew and so on. But credit to the West Indies. It feels bad when a team has to cop criticism despite having played so well but we’ve learnt to accept it as part of our cycle and moving forward has always been the key. And IPL is always a different ballgame – new teams, new teammates, new goals – so the focus is completely different,”.
So, this year two new surprises are waiting for IPL fans.
- Rising Pune Supergiants and
- The Gujarat Lions
Sanjiv Goenka purchased Rising Pune Supergiants and The Gujarat Lions was procured by @KeshavBansal08, Director of Intex Technologies. Rest teams are as usual which includes Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders.