The Stars Are Aligned

WHEN THE TWO Iyers, Shreyas and Venkatesh, crossed one another with their gloved fists aloft to secure the win­ning run of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had completed a perfect campaign with a perfect set of personnel – every player and staff having played their role to perfec­tion. At the scalding end of May in Chennai, captain Shreyas had just won his first IPL title, as player or cap­tain, in turn delivering the franchise owned by Shah Rukh Khan a third trophy in the tournament’s history. And the superstar – draped in the team’s purple – danced in the stands of Chepauk. All three KKR titles, in­cidentally, had been masterminded by Gautam Gambhir, twice in the role of captain in the past and now as the team’s new head coach/mentor, hired just before the season began.

“We played like invincibles throughout the season, and there is so much to cherish right now,” said Shreyas at the presentation ceremo­ny before receiving the cup, certain, among other things, that the Iyer- Gambhir leadership unit, and style, was not just here to stay but perhaps even flourish again in the following season. Such was their dominance, or invincibility, as Shreyas rightly called it.

Just 10 months on and in the antic­ipation of the 2025 IPL season, which starts on March 22, defending cham­pions KKR are without the services of either Shreyas or Gambhir, for al­together different reasons. Gambhir had to relinquish his IPL post after having taken up the top job for his national team, while Shreyas became the very first winning captain to be drafted out by the titling franchise. Such are the whims and vagaries of IPL, always ready to disavow formu­las and mantras.

Shreyas landed on his feet, of course. At the mega auction held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, earlier this year, the former KKR leader was snapped up by Punjab Kings (PBKS) for ₹26.75 crore, making him, at least temporarily, the most expensive signing in the history of IPL (that record would fall within the hour when Lucknow Super Giants successfully bid ₹27 crore for Rishabh Pant). But PBKS didn’t just splurge on Shreyas, whom they would promptly make their 17th captain in 18 seasons. They revamped their entire squad with big money buys all around. Having never won an IPL title, Punjab re­tained the services of just two players prior to the auction, the uncapped Indian duo of Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh.

This left them with a bigger purse than any other franchise at the auc­tion table and they chased their targets hard. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, the highest-ever wicket-taker in the his­tory of IPL with 205 scalps was bought for ₹18 crore, and they also bought back Arshdeep Singh for the same price. Glenn Maxwell, who last played for this franchise in 2014, the year they made the final and never qualified for the playoffs again, was brought in for ₹ 4.2 crore, the same price put by PBKS on Nehal Wadhera, going by the promise shown by the young batter while at Mumbai Indians (MI). That wasn’t it: Ricky Ponting, who knows a thing or two about coaching a team to IPL glory, was brought in as the franchise’s new backroom head, who immedi­ately weighed in to bolster the side with two all-rounders in Marcus Stoinis and Marco Jansen for ₹ 11 crore and ₹ 7 crore respectively.

NO ONE SPENT more money on a single player (ever) than Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) did on wicketkeeper Pant, their new captain. The former Delhi Capitals man is now in charge of a side that, in its short exis­tence as an IPL team, has made two out of three playoffs. Pant will know that he is here to take them not only a step further but try and win the title itself, helming a shiny new squad that brought in the South African duo of Aiden Markram and David Miller, and also fast bowler Akash Deep, who has proved himself time and again in India’s Test squad. LSG also roped in the services of Zaheer Khan as their mentor, who has won titles with MI as both player and coach. This makes LSG a formidable side, one that looks to punch their way to their maiden IPL title. As for Pant himself, his fearless batting, unconventional stroke play (like his one-handed sixes), and adaptability make him a game-changer in T20s. His dual impact as a destructive hitter and sharp wicketkeeper makes him the anchor of his IPL team.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) RCB, frustratingly for their legion of fans, are yet to win their first IPL title, despite having been in the final on three earlier oc­casions – 2009, 2011 and 2016. Significantly, despite having the unwavering presence of Virat Kohli. Kohli is the only player to feature for the same franchise since the inception of IPL. He has also accumulated run-scoring records for the fun of it. Most runs in the previous edition of IPL: 741. Most runs in any single edition of IPL: 973 in 2016, when RCB last made the final. Most runs in the history of IPL: 8,004. Most hun­dreds: 8. The list goes on.

While he has the most of almost everything important, Kohli has none when it comes to the one thing of most significance: titles. He comes into this season after having regained his form at the ICC Champions Trophy which India won largely due to his batting efforts. But he also comes in without the burden of being captain, despite the franchise get­ting rid of Faf du Plessis for the new three-year cycle. That responsibility lies on the shoulder of Rajat Patidar who will bat just below openers Kohli and the explosive Phil Salt – who won the title with KKR last year. Could Salt’s knowhow turn the tide for RCB? Kohli sure will hope so.

Kohli’s fellow legend, Rohit Sharma, has won more IPL titles than anyone else in the league with six – five of those as captain of MI. So, when he was replaced at the top by Hardik Pandya for the previous campaign, who had returned to the fran­chise where he was discovered after having ledGujaratTitanstovictoryintheirmaiden season, there was an uproar among Mum­bai’s faithfuls. Although he played a big role in four of Mumbai’s title-winning seasons, Pandya was booed everywhere the team travelled in 2024, which only got worse once MI finished last on the table for the first time in IPL. The five-time champions will look to get back to winning ways but Pandya will have his work cut out, for he leads a team brimming with In­dia’s captains across all formats: Test cricket’s most recent leader Jasprit Bumrah, ODI captain Rohit and T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav.

Mumbai will begin their new campaign in the backyard of the only other team to match them in terms of respect and trophies, Chennai Super Kings. It is the league’s greatest derby, embel­lished with as many as four IPL finals between them (in 2010, 2013, 2015 and 2019, with CSK having won only the first of these). Like MI, the yellow side didn’t qualify for the playoffs last season, a rarity, but it was excused because CSK were undergoing a transition in terms of both personnel and leadership, with MS Dhoni having handed over the reins to young Ruturaj Gaikwad. Gaikwad has once again been named captain for the upcoming season, but the following for the franchise stems from the presence of just one man, Dhoni, who will make pos­sibly his final IPL appearance this season. Like Kohli, he too would have played out his career for just a club, had CSK not been banned from the league for two seasons (2016 and 2017). When they returned in 2018, Dhoni led them to their third title. Then he did it again in 2021, and once again in 2023. Pushing 44, he is the oldest player in IPL, but with that age also comes invalu­able experience, which Gaikwad and CSK will be counting on.

From veterans perhaps playing their last IPL to rising stars and new team lead­ers, the 2025 season promises a lot more than the annual thrill of the world’s biggest T20 league.

Indian cricketIPLMS DhoniRishabh PantRohit SharmaShreyas IyerVirat Kohli