IPL 2018: The All You Need To Know Guide

When does it start and how long does it go for?

Eight teams from around the cricket world's most populous nation will battle it out in the highest-profile domestic T20 tournament on the planet. The 10th edition of the Indian Premier League gets underway on April 5 (12.30am on April 6 for those on Australia’s eastern seaboard) with a rematch of last year’s decider between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore. This year’s final will be played on May 21 (that’s May 22 at 12.30am AEDT). All up, the six-and-half-week tournament will feature 60 games including the four playoff matches for the top-four placed teams at the end of the regular season.

How can I follow it?

No Australian television broadcaster has bought the rights for the IPL, meaning the tournament won’t be available on either free-to-air or subscription TV. Fear not, cricket.com.au will have you covered with live scores, news and video highlights from every match.

What happened last year?

David Warner led the Sunrisers Hyderabad to the side’s first-ever title, beating out the star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore in a thrilling final. We’ve compiled a full recap of how every Australian fared in the 2016 edition of the IPL here.

What happened in this year’s auction?

Pace trio Pat Cummins (sold for AUD$875k), Nathan Coulter-Nile ($680k) and Mitchell Johnson ($375k) led the way for Australia with three sizeable deals in the auction in February. But it was a couple of Englishmen who spectacularly stole the show at what has fast become the most lucrative day on the cricketing calendar. England pair Ben Stokes ($2.8million) and Tymal Mills ($2.3million) each found themselves in bidding wars, with quite incredible results. The other Australians to get picked up in this year’s auction were Dan Christian ($194k), Billy Stanlake ($58k) and Ben Laughlin ($58k), while 15 other Aussies were retained. You can catch up on the full auction-day recap here.

Full squads and where the Aussies are

Delhi Daredevils

Aussie watch: Pat Cummins will get his third taste of the IPL with his new side Delhi having been picked up for a cool six-figure deal in the auction. The tearaway played four games for the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014 and 2015, while he impressed with both bat and ball during the summer’s KFC Big Bash League for the Sydney Thunder. Cummins has gotten through an entire season unscathed after a succession of injury-plagued summers and will likely spearhead a Daredevils attack alongside fellow speedster Kagiso Rabada.

Full squad: Angelo Mathews, Corey Anderson, Kagiso Rabada, Pat Cummins, Ankit Bawne, Aditya Tare, Murugan Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Shashank Singh, Mohammed Shami, Shahbaz Nadeem, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Shreyas Iyer, Zaheer Khan, Sam Billings, Sanju Samson, Chris Morris, Carlos Brathwaite, Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant, CV Milind, Syed Ahmed, Pratyush Singh.

Gujarat Lions