According to highly-placed SportsTiger sources, defending champions Gujarat Titans are likely to cross swords with five-time champion Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2023 opener. While there is not yet any confirmation regarding the dates of the first match of the 16th season of the tournament, reports have claimed that either 31st March or 1st April could be the likely dates when IPL 2023 will kick start.

Notably, IPL 2023 mini-auction concluded on Friday in Kochi with ten franchises getting a final chance to form their squad for the much-awaited season. After a phenomenal debut in IPL 2022, Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans decided to keep most of their prominent names in the squad, and smartly invested during the IPL2023 auctions on Friday. 

They have now added Kane Williamson (Rs. 2 crores), Odean Smith (Rs. 50 Lakh), Joshua Little (Rs. 4.4 crore) and a few others. The newly inducted franchise will be looking towards yet another successful season on the back of a quality line-up in their squad.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians had a forgettable IPL 2022 as the five-time champions finished at the bottom of the points table. After back-to-back defeats in the 15th season, Mumbai Indians were the first to be knocked out of the T20 league. However, the Rohit Sharma-led franchise has a well-balanced squad and will be favourites to make a comeback.  

Cameron Green has been the most talked about addition in the Mumbai camp. With Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, and Cameron Green at their service, Mumbai Indians will be eying to convert IPL 2023 into a memorable season.

Gujarat Titans squad:

Kane Williamson, Odean Smith, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma, Abhinav Sadarangani, Alzarri Joseph, B. Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, David Miller, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Matthew Wade, Mohammad Shami, Noor Ahmad, Pradeep Sangwan, R. Sai Kishore, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Shubman Gill, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Yash Dayal

Mumbai Indian Squad: 

Cameron Green, Jhye Richardson, Piyush Chawla, Duan Jansen, Vishnu Vinod, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Raghav Goyal, Rohit Sharma, Tim David, Ramandeep Singh, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Jofra Archer, Jasprit Bumrah, Arjun Tendulkar, Arshad Khan, Kumar Kartikeya, Hrithik Shokeen, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal.