The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to get underway on Friday (March 31). Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings will be facing each other in the opening game at the Narendra Modi Stadium. A grand opening ceremony is also set to precede the first game and it will commence at 6 PM IST. Bollywood superstars Rashmika Mandanna and Tamannaah Bhatia are set to perform while singer Arijit Singh will also make his presence his felt before the game.
Meanwhile, a captain's meet took place like every year at the venue of the opening game in Ahmedabad. All the skippers also posed for a picture with the trophy even as Bhuvneshwar Kumar was seen representing Sunrisers Hyderabad with Aiden Markram yet to join the team. The former will also be leading SRH in their opening game against Rajasthan Royals on April 2. Another major absence in the captains' meet was of the Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma.
Rohit was trending soon after the picture of captains' meet went viral on social media. Many started speculating several things about the same but according to Times of India, the MI captain was unwell and hence, opted not to travel to Ahmedabad. However, there is not threat to his availability for the game against RCB on Sunday. "He was unwell and thus could not travel to Ahmedabad for the pre-IPL captains' meeting and photoshoot. He is, however, likely to be available for MI's opening game in IPL-2023 against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 2," the source said.
Rohit Sharma was pretty open speaking about workload management of Indian players during the IPL. There is also a possibility of the man himself resting up for a few games during the season. MI head coach Mark Boucher also conceded that if Rohit needs rest at any point, the management will oblige to his request.
