New Delhi: The Indian Premier League (IPL) is likely to be held in India even as the country goes to elections, according to a BCCI source.
The biggest cricket fest is likely to start on March 22 and the dates of the general election are likely to be announced around the same time, but a top source from BCCI confirmed that the IPL will be played in India.
"There is nothing like that, to shift the tournament outside the country, as the general election will also be at the same time. If any state doesn't want to host the match at that time, with any justified reason, the match could be shifted to another venue".
Teams have already fine-tuned their squads after the conclusion of the IPL 2024 auction, which was held in Dubai last month. The auction saw the record for the most expensive player break twice. Australia star Mitchell Starc became the most expensive player in the history of the tournament as he was bagged by Kolkata Knight Riders for a price tag of Rs24.75 crore.
Along with this the IPL 2024 auction recorded an increase of 57 per cent from the previous auction's viewers.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah took to X to announce that the IPL auction drew a total of 22.8 million viewers, higher than those for auctions held in the 2022 auction.
Five-time champions Chennai Super Kings will set out to defend their crown with MS Dhoni once again set to take charge.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) CEO Kasi Viswanathan was optimistic about Dhoni's return and told ANI, "He has recovered well (from his knee injury). He is undergoing his rehab programmes, started training. By the time the next IPL starts, I am sure he will be fit to play."
IPL 2024 teams and full squads
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) IPL 2024 squad: Ajay Mandal, Ajinkya Rahane, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway*Maheesh Theekshana*, Matheesha Pathirana*, Mitchell Santner*, Moeen Ali*, MS Dhoni, Mukesh Choudhary, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shaik Rasheed, Shivam Dube, Simarjeet Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Rachin Ravindra*, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell*, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman* and Avanish Rao Aravelly.
Delhi Capitals (DC) IPL 2024 squad: Abhishek Porel, Anrich Nortje*, Axar Patel, David Warner*, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Lalit Yadav, Lungi Ngidi*, Mitchell Marsh*, Mukesh Kumar, Pravin Dubey, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Vicky Ostwal, Yash Dhull, Harry Brook*, Tristan Stubbs*, Ricky Bhui, Kumar Kushagra, Rasikh Dar, Jhye Richardson*, Sumit Kumar, Shai Hope*, Swastik Chhikara.
Gujarat Titans (GT) IPL 2024 squad: Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, David Miller*, Jayant Yadav, Joshua Little*, Kane Williamson*, Matthew Wade*, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmad*, R Sai Kishore, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan*, Shubman GillVijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Azmatullah Omarzai*, Umesh Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson, Robin Minz
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) IPL 2024 squad: Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz*, Shreyas Iyer, Jason Roy*, Sunil Narine*, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell*, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc*, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford*, Manish Pandey, Mujeeb Ur Rehman*, Gus Atkinson*, Sakib Hussain.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) IPL 2024 squad: KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock*, Nicholas Pooran*, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers*, Marcus Stoinis*, Deepak Hooda, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen ul Haq*, Krunal Pandya, Yudhvir Singh, Prerak Mankad, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Mark Wood*, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, K Gowtham, Devdutt Padikkal (traded from RR), Shivam Mavi, Arshin Kulkarni, M Siddharth, Ashton Turner*, David Willey*, Mohammed Arshad Khan.
Mumbai Indians (MI) IPL 2024 squad: Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis*, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Verma, Tim David*, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal WadheraJasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff*, Hardik Pandya (traded from GT), Romario Shepherd* (traded from LSG), Gerald Coetzee*, Dilshan Madushanka, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara*, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi*, Shivalik Sharma.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) IPL 2024 squad: Shikhar Dhawan, Liam Livingstone*, Jonny Bairstow*, Jitesh Sharma, Shivam Singh, Rahul Chahar, Prabhsimran Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Bhatia, Harpreet Brar, Atharva Taide, Vidwath Kaverappa, Rishi Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada*, Sam Curran*, Nathan Ellis*, Sikandar Raza*, Harshal Patel, Chris Woakes*, Ashutosh Sharma, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Shashank Singh, Tanay Thyagarajan, Prince Choudhary, Rilee Rossouw*
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) IPL 2024 squad: Faf du Plessis*, Glenn Maxwell*, Virat KohliRajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks*, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley*, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Mayank Dagar (traded from SRH), Cameron Green* (traded from MI), Alzarri Joseph*, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran*, Lockie Ferguson*, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chuahan.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) IPL 2024 squad: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler*, Shimron Hetmyer*, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira*, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult*, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa*, Avesh Khan (from LSG), Rovman Powell*Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler Cadmore, Nandre Burger*, Abid Mushtaq
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) IPL 2024 squad: Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram*, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips*, Heinrich Klaasen*, Mayank Agarwal, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Singh Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen*, Washington Sundar, Sanvir Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi*, Shahbaz Ahmed (traded from RCB), Travis Head*, Wanindu Hasaranga*, Pat Cummins*, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan. (ANI)