From Hardik Pandya’s trade to Mumbai Indians to Virat Kohli’s return as the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, there were many major IPL updates in 2023. Hardik has been appointed the new captain of Mumbai Indians. Pandya captained Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022 and 2023.
Hardik Pandya has made his return to Mumbai Indians for IPL 2024. Photo: BCCI
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Hardik Pandya was traded to Mumbai Indians before IPL 2024 auction
- Pandya captained Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022 and 2023
- Virat Kohli captained RCB in three matches in IPL 2023
The year 2023 was a memorable one for Indian cricket and the Indian Premier League (IPL). Once again, MS Dhoni graced the T20 league. Even though he was struggling with a knee issue, he continued to entertain the fans and propelled Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to their fifth IPL title win.
As the year 2023 comes to an end soon, we have a look at 5 major IPL news from the year. Of course, the highlight of the year was Hardik Pandya’s return to Mumbai Indians and then becoming the captain of the franchise.
Hardik Pandya returns to Mumbai Indians
The IPL witnessed its biggest-ever trade when Hardik Pandya made his return to Mumbai Indians (MI) from Gujarat Titans (GT). Given Pandya’s success with GT, no one would have expected him to leave the franchise. But the star all-roudner shocked the cricket fraternity by agreeing to the trade.
Pandya had joined GT after being released by MI before the IPL 2022 mega-auction. He captained GT to a title win in IPL 2022. The Gujarat-based franchise played the final of IPL 2023.
Mumbai Indians remove Rohit Sharma as captain
If Hardik Pandya’s return to MI wasn’t enough, MI gave another surprise to their fans by removing Rohit Sharma from captaincy. Hardik replaced him before the IPL 2024 mini-auction. The fans were so upset with MI that lakhs of users unfollowed the franchise’s social media profiles.
Rohit hasn’t spoken anything about the captaincy change yet. The trading window is open till February and it will be interesting to see if Rohit moves to another franchise or not.
Before the start of the second phase of IPL 2021, Virat Kohli shockingly stepped down as the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). He played IPL 2022 under Faf du Plessis and was playing his second season under him when Virat got an opportunity to lead RCB once again.
Down with an injury, du Plessis made use of the Impact Player rule and only batted for RCB. Since RCB needed a captain when he wasn’t on the field, he handed the captaincy to Kohli. The RCB legend captained the franchise in three matches in IPL 2023.
The IPL 2023 final will go down in history as one of the best finals. The match stretched to over three days and had a final-ball finish. Heavy rain in Ahmedabad pushed the game into the reserve day. There was rain interruption on the reserve day as well and the match finally finished at 1:30 AM on Tuesday (May 31). The fixture was scheduled to start and end on May 29.
Ravindra Jadeja hit the match-winning boundary for CSK to propel them to their fifth IPL trophy win. After the title win, MS Dhoni confirmed that he will be in action for CSK in IPL 2024.
Australians bag big money
The auction for IPL 2024 took place on December 19, 2023. For the first time in history, the franchises were ready to shell out more than Rs 20 crore on two players. Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc etched their name in history books by breaching the 20-crore mark in the mini-auction.
Cummins joined Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 20.50 crore while Kolkata Knight Riders bought Starc for a huge sum of Rs 24.75 crore.
Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.
