The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League will be starting from March 31 and the last league match will be played on May 21.
The tournament is finally back to its original home-away format, and hence, every team will get the opportunity to play to their strengths in their den. While naturally the Indian pitches support spinners, some teams may decide to make pace-friendly pitches so as to benefit the quality quicks in their team.
Here are 3 teams who could make pitches suitable for fast bowlers:
1. Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians comes at the top of the list because they have two best bowlers in World Cricket, at present, in their squad – Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer. The moment would definitely come when Bumrah (if available) and Archer will be sharing the new ball for MI. Moreover, with options like Jason Behrendorff and Jhye Richardson also potentially available, it would be interesting to see how the Mumbai Indians prepare pitches.
Also read: IPL 2023: 3 International spinners who might get benched for the entire season
2. Gujarat Titans
Gujarat Titans released Lockie Ferguson, but they still have the premium pacer, Mohammed Shami, who will be accompanied by Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, and the young pace sensation, Shivam Mavi. With the ground dimensions in Ahmedabad being huge, pacers will have a huge role to play if they make a pace-friendly pitch.
3. Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders has one of the best pace attacks in IPL 2023. The team acquired the services of Lockie Ferguson and Shardul Thakur in the auction last year, and also have Umesh Yadav and Tim Southee in their squad. Hence, Eden Gardens, that generally offers pace and bounce to the pacers, will play a huge role in the game.