Team captains pose with trophy ahead of IPL season

NEW DELHI: A day before the much-awaited Indian Premier League 2024, all the nine captains of different franchises along with Punjab Kings vice-captain Jitesh Sharma posed for the picture with the trophy.

Ruturaj Gaikwad (Chennai Super Kings), Faf Du Plessis (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Hardik Pandya (Mumbai Indians), Rishabh Pant (Delhi Capitals), KL Rahul (Lucknow Super Giants), Shubman Gill (Gujarat Titans), Shreyas Iyer (Kolkata Knight Riders), Pat Cummins (SunRisers Hyderabad), Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals), Jitesh (Punjab Kings).

"The 10 captains are ready! The Goal is set. Let the #TATAIPL 2024 begin," IPL said in video posted on X.

Punjab Kings skipper Shikhar Dhawan was not present in the photograph session of IPL 2024 due to a minor illness.

The schedule has been revealed till April 7 in view of Lok Sabha polls and further dates will be announced.

Fans will have double delight as they will witness four doubleheaders that have been scheduled within this time frame.

The 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will start on March 22, with MS Dhoni-led side, the defending champions, set to clash with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in a South Indian derby at their home arena - MA Chidambaram Stadium.

IPL 2022 winner and last year's runnersup Gujarat Titans (GT) and five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) battle against each other in an electrifying clash on Sunday at Ahmedabad.

On the same day, Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants will be starting their campaign at Jaipur.

Delhi Capitals will be playing their home fixtures at Vizag on March 31 and April 3 against CSK and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively. In what will be the first-ever double-header on March 23, Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals will launch their campaign against each other at Mohali while two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders will get their campaign underway in Kolkata.