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The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) kicked off in late March and has had some riveting matches so far with the top teams making early claims at the top of the table.
Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, two of the most successful teams in the history of the IPL, failed to qualify even for the playoffs last year and the former have begun the season with two losses. Gujarat Titans, a team, which was playing its first season in the championship, rose like a phoenix from the ashes and won the tournament last year and look good to continue their momentum this year.
Hardik Pandya was also named as the Indian skipper for the three-match T20I series against Dasun Shanaka’s Sri Lanka following the IPL triumph. In the absence of Rohit Sharma, the Indian team management showed faith in Hardik to handle leadership duties.
As far as the IPL is concerned, it started way back in 2008 and has own grown in stature. After Brendon McCullum scored a hundred for the Kolkata Knight Riders against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, the IPL hasn’t looked back.
The Royals, who won that tournament that year under the leadership of the Late Shane Warne, are yet to win a title since then.
Mumbai Indians happen to be the most successful IPL team, having won five IPL titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020, although in the previous two seasons, they failed to go through to the next round.
The Super Kings are the second-most successful IPL team, having won the championship four times. In 2020, the Men in Yellow failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in the history of the IPL. But in 2021, CSK came back to win the title after beating the Knight Riders in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
After CSK and MI, KKR happen to be the third-most successful team, having won the title two times in 2012 and 2014 under Gautam Gambhir’s leadership.
IPL Live Streaming UK: Where can viewers in the United Kingdom watch IPL 2023?
United Kingdom has a huge fan base for cricket and especially IPL with several England players part of the league. For IPL fans in the UK who are struggling to find how to watch IPL in UK, we have explained how you can do IPL live streaming UK.
The viewers in the United Kingdom (UK) can watch the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) live and exclusively on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event. But to watch IPL live you need to have a Sky Sports package.
For the ones, who aren’t customers of Sky, they can watch IPL in UK through Now Sports Membership.
IPL 2023 Broadcast Channel will be Sky Sports as well for you to watch IPL in UK.
IPL live streaming UK can now also be done via Disney + Hotstar with Star India announcing its entry to the UK market.
IPL matches begin at 7.30 PM IST usually, which means IPL live streaming UK can be done at 3 PM. On doubleheader days, mostly weekends, there will be matches at 3.30 PM IST too, which would mean IPL live streaming UK begins at 11 AM UK time.
The fans in the UK can catch the live action of IPL 2023 on Sky Sports Cricket. You can avail the online streaming on the DAZN application.
Sky Sports Cricket (TV)
DAZN (Streaming)
England players in demand in the IPL
The auction for the 2023 IPL took place a couple of weeks ago and a number of English players went under the hammer. In fact, some of them created massive bidding wars and ran away with big deals. This should interest users in UK interested to watch IPL live.
Joe Root, Luke Wood, Tom Curran, Rehan Ahmed, Richard Gleeson, James Overton, Will Smeed, Dawid Malan, Will Jacks, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley, Chris Jordan, Phil Salt, Tom Banton, Sam Curran and Harry Brook were the English players, whose name came up in the auction.
Even though quite a few of them, including Rehan, Banton, Jordan and Malan couldn’t find a buyer, a few of them wreaked absolute havoc in the auction and caused intense bidding wars.
Brook was the first English player to be auctioned and teams went hammer and tongs to secure the services of the right-handed batter. The Royals and RCB started the bidding. At INR 5 crore, the Challengers gave up the ghost after which Sunrisers Hyderabad, the winner of the 2016 IPL, joined in.
In the end, SRH bagged Brook for INR 13.25 crore. Brook went into the IPL auction after scoring three hundred on the tour of Pakistan. He also became the Player of the Series in the seven-match series that took place before the T20 World Cup on Australian soil.
After Brook, all-rounder Sam Curran, who won the Player of the Tournament award in the T20 World Cup, set the auction tables on fire. From a base price of INR 2 crore, Curran fetched INR 18.50 crore from the Punjab Kings (PBKS). Mumbai Indians, RCB, RR, CSK and Lucknow Super Giants were also involved in bidding wars to acquire Curran.
After Brook and Curran, in came Ben Stokes, who has revolutionised Test cricket for England over the last six months or so. Stokes is one of the experienced campaigners in the IPL, having already played since 2016.
After starting with a base price of INR 2 crore, RR and RCB started the bidding war. After some time, both teams bailed out after which LSG and the Sunrisers tried their hearts out to bag England’s Test skipper.
At 15.256 crore, the Super Kings stepped in and after a while, bagged Stokes for a stunning price of INR 16.25 crore. Teams also fought hard to bag fast bowler Reece Topley, who went away with a price of INR 1.90 crore from a base price of INR 75 lakhs.
Rashid, Salt and Jacks also found buyers. Joe Root initially went unsold at a base price of INR 1 crore, but the Royals picked him up in the accelerated auction. It will be Root’s maiden stint in the IPL.
Apart from Root, the Royals also have Jos Buttler, who has been a stalwart for them at the top of the order. More often than not, Buttler takes the Royals off to flying starts. Among other English players, Moeen Ali, David Willey, Liam Livingstone, Jonny Bairstow, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood are also a part of the IPL.
English players have gained a lot of attention of late due to their brand of cricket, especially in Test cricket. Moreover, England is also the defending champions of the T20 World Cup. In the final back in November at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, England beat Pakistan to lift the trophy under Buttler’s captaincy.
Even as Curran bowled beautifully, it was Stokes, who scored a half-century under pressure, that took England past the finish line.
IPL live streaming UK will help you follow the tournament and the England stars throughout the two months of the tournament.
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