Riders begin title defence as IPL 6 gets under way

Gautam Gambhir of Kolkata Knight Riders hits a four against Royal Challengers Bangalore in a past match. Riders are the defending champions of the Indian Premier league. Photo/FILE

What you need to know:

  • In the finals of IPL 5, Knight Riders which were skippered by Gautam Gambhir, upstaged the previous champions and favourites Chennai Super Kings, to take the crown for the first time.

Cricket’s most lucrative tournament, the Indian Premier League, batted off Wednesday with a match between the defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders and the Delhi Daredevils at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

The opening ceremony of the IPL - now in its sixth season - was a held on Tuesday at the 120,000-capacity Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

In keeping with the stature of the tournament, the opening ceremony was a glitzy affair, attended by India’s top Bollywood celebrities and other prominent people from the arts and entertainment industry.

American rapper Pitbull and superstar Shah Rukh Khan were the main highlights of the ceremony which formally opened with the skippers of all the nine franchises taking the ICC Spirit of Cricket Pledge, “Play hard, Play fair.”

In the finals of IPL 5, Knight Riders which were skippered by Gautam Gambhir, upstaged the previous champions and favourites Chennai Super Kings, to take the crown for the first time.

Wednesday, they started defending it, and they are being touted as the favourites considering that they have retained their star players, the core of the team, that was instrumental in last season’s sterling performance.

The Delhi Daredevils are no pushover though, and even though they have always shown a fighting spirit, the ultimate trophy has eluded them and they have just managed to finish in the top four positions in three of the five seasons.

Before Wednesday’s opener, The Kolkata Knight Riders and the Delhi Daredevils have so far met on nine occasions, with the KKR winning five times. In the meantime, Sri Lanka’s Lasith “the Sling” Malinga will not be in the line up when Mumbai Indians meet Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy Stadium today evening.

Malinga has been instrumental in spearheading Mumbai Indians’ attack in the past five seasons of IPL, but is recovering from an injury he suffered during Sri Lanka’s ODI series against Bangladesh.

The sixth season of IPL will be played in 12 different cities across India till May 26.

The participating teams are Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Pune Warriors India, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and newcomers Sunrisers Hyderabad.