Mumbai (April 06, 2018): Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 11th edition will be kicked off on Saturday with two new teams.
Few expected the Twenty20 tournament to climb out of the morass of spot-fixing and illegal betting it descended into five years ago, which eventually led to bans on its Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals franchises.
Chennai return to take on Mumbai Indians in Saturday’s tournament opener featuring two IPL heavyweights who share five titles between them.
Rajasthan mark their comeback against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday with both teams forced into a late leadership change following Australia’s ball-tampering controversy in South Africa.
Former Australia captain Steve Smith stepped down as Rajasthan skipper while David Warner relinquished Hyderabad captaincy following the scandal.
Cricket Australia have banned both of them for 12 months, while they have also been barred from this year’s IPL.
Ajinkya Rahane will lead Rajasthan instead, while New Zealander Kane Williamson will skipper Hyderabad as the lone foreigner leading an IPL team in the April 7-May 27 tournament.
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