The 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to begin in less than a month as fans are getting ready to experience a host of international stars playing together to win the ultimate prize.
The first match of the competition will be played between four-time champions Mumbai Indians and three-time title winners Chennai Super Kings at the historic Wankhede Stadium on March 29 whereas the final of the cash-rich T20 league will be played on May 17 at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
In this tournament preview, we are bringing you some of the details about the defending champions, the favourites and the underdogs for the 13th edition of India's premier T20 competition.
Defending champions: Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians are the most successful team in the history of the competition after managing to lift their fourth title with the victory in the 2019 campaign by beating the then defending champions Chennai Supers Kings in a cliff-hanger of a final by just one run.
For this season, Mumbai have made numerous changes where they released the likes of former middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh, Australia's all-rounder Ben Cutting and New Zealand's right-arm pacer Adam Milne and replaced them with West Indies' left-handed batsman Sherfane Rutherford, New Zealand's veteran pacer Trent Boult and right-arm fast bowler Dhawal Kulkarni.
In the batting department, the team will be relying heavily on captain Rohit Sharma, South Africa's wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock, West Indies captain Kieron Pollard and star
