With 70 matches scheduled to be contested over 52 days, the IPL 2023 calendar looks to be a thrilling one. In India, the competition would be contested at twelve different locations. The final day of the IPL is March 31, 2023.
The first match of the doubleheader is set to begin at 3:30 PM IST, followed by the second match at 7:30 PM IST. Also, the IPL 2023 calendar includes afternoon games on weekends and holidays, giving fans plenty of chances to see their preferred teams in action. Gujarat Titans, the reigning champions will look to defend their title while the Chennai Super Kings would be aiming to give their ‘thala’ a fitting farewell.
The English Cricket Team have an enormous depth to their squad. They have players perfect for the T20 format with all being match winners.
Let us have a look at the top 5 English players who could have a cracking IPL season in 2023:
Mark Wood
The quickest paceman in modern cricket is arguably the English lanky pacer. Wood had a top speed of 156 kph while competing for England against Pakistan in a Test match last year. Wood can be considered the fastest bowler in world cricket even if he may not have delivered the quickest deliveries because of his high average speed of over 151 kph.
In the 16th IPL, or IPL 2023, Wood, who may be the league’s fiercest bowler, will make his IPL debut for the Lucknow Super Giants. He can bowl in the middle overs and can be used as a wicket-taking option by KL Rahul.
Harry Brook
One of the most fascinating prospects in England cricket, Harry Brook was sold at the price of 13.25 crores to Sunriseres Hyderabad. With his excellent batting performances this year, he has dominated the T20 circuit. The Yorkshire-born player scored 264 runs in 10 games during Pakistan Super League 2022 with an astounding strike rate of 171.43. At the T20 Blast 2022, he put on a display of his daring stroke play, scoring 436 runs in 13 matches scoring crucial runs for the side.
Jofra Archer
The aspiring English pacer made his return to the cricket field after a huge gap of 540 days due to his elbow fracture. Despite his absence and injury, the ace pacer is well back and bowling 150 kph with ease. He was even impressed on his long-awaited return in the SA20 league game, where he picked 3 wickets playing for the MI Cape Town.
Archer has a steaming bouncer, a toe-cracking yorker, and a back-of-the-hand slower ball. Archer averages 146 kph and clocked the max speed of 154.6 kph. Making his IPL return in 2023, Archer would be looked at as a dependable pace bowling option. In absence of Jasprit Bumrah, Archer needs to be a bankable option for Rohit Sharma this season.
Ben Stokes
At the IPL 2023 auction, Chennai Super Kings paid a staggering price of Rs 16.25 crore for Stokes. The English all-rounder last competed in the lucrative competition in 2021 after appearing in 43 games across five IPL seasons. In Rajasthan Royals’ opening match of the IPL 2021 season, Stokes fractured a finger. After having surgery to cure the injury, he took a sabbatical from playing competitive cricket and missed the whole IPL 2022.
In 42 innings in 43 IPL games, Ben Stokes has scored 920 runs. Ben Stokes’s IPL career-high score is 107. The English allrounder has 30+ seven times and 20+ four times in the IPL along with 2 IPL centuries. In 684 IPL balls, Stokes has a strike rate of 134.5 and an average of 21.39.
Sam Curran
Sam Curran of England will return to the Indian Premier League (IPL) after sitting out the previous year. The England all-rounder returned to T20 cricket in a fitting manner, as he became Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup 2022. In the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) history, Punjab Kings’ purchased him for Rs 18.50 crore on Friday at the mini-auction making him the most expensive player ever to be purchased.
In both the IPL and T20 cricket, Curran has outstanding statistics. Curran has 337 runs and 32 wickets taken in 32 IPL games. Curran has scored 1731 runs overall with a strike rate of 135.65 in 145 T20s. With a 25.56 average, he has taken 149 wickets thus far.
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