IPL 2023: Ranking top 10 jerseys

IPL captains. (Photo Source: IPL/Twitter)

The Indian Premier League is an amalgamation of cricket and entertainment. Before the cricketing action started this season, the 16th edition of the tournament saw a couple of celebrities setting the stage on fire in the opening ceremony.

The IPL is not just a regular cricket league; it involves a lot of other aspects and the ten franchises understand that very well. Before the start of each season, franchises host a dedicated event to unveil the jersey that the players will don during the tournament.

This year was no different; one by one, each of the ten franchises revealed their playing kit in their own in-house events. The jersey serves as the identity of a team as well as its fans. Hence, it is important for the franchises to carefully select the colour pattern, design, and other things while preparing the jersey. A lot of the franchises have managed to crack the code for the perfect jersey, while some are still in the process.

Here, we have ranked the jerseys of all 10 IPL teams this season:

10. Lucknow Super Giants (7.5/10)

LSG Jersey (Photo Source: LSG/YouTube)

Lucknow Super Giants made their debut last season and finished in the third position with nine wins. They lost the eliminator game and failed to make it to the later stage of the tournament. Last season, the Sanjeev Goenka-owned team donned a greenish-blue colour jersey, which was rated low.

Super Giants understood the apprehensions and this season unveiled their kit with new colours and patterns. This season, KL Rahul’s side will wear a dark blue jersey. The jersey has light blue and red stripes running from the top to the bottom.

The kit has not been liked by many, and the franchise has faced backlash from fans. Many fans have apparently not liked this year’s kit because the team logo on the left side tends to get lost because of the new colour scheme.

9. Chennai Super Kings (8/10)

Ben Stokes. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Chennai Super Kings, one of the most successful franchises in the history of the IPL, doesn’t like to do much experiments with their kit. They have been one of the few teams that have stuck to their colour scheme right from the start of the tournament. The MS Dhoni-led team will be back this season at the Chepauk in yellow.

The team has not changed much in their jersey this year, and the same pattern and colour have been retained. Chennai Super Kings finished last season with just four wins and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second time since the inception of the Indian Premier League.

For this year’s IPL, the team purchased the services of Ben Stokes during the mini-auction last year for a price of INR 16.25 crores. They also picked the former vice-captain of the Indian Test team, Ajinkya Rahane, at the auction. Both Stokes and Rahane were present during the jersey launch event.

8. Delhi Capitals (8/10)

Delhi Capitals Jersey (Photo Source: Twitter)

The JSW-GMR co-owned team launched their new jersey in March. They have retained the blue and red combination from the last season but made some tweaks in the design. For instance, red is only there on the shoulders of the new jersey, while it was on the chest as well in the previous season.

The Tiger in the logo is also in the centre of the new kit. Delhi Capitals will be led by David Warner this year in the absence of Rishabh Pant, who has been ruled out of the entire season. Axar Patel has been promoted to become the vice-captain of the team.

The franchise made a total of five purchases during the mini-auction, including Rilee Rossouw, Phil Salt, and Manish Pandey. Mukesh Kumar, the 29-year-old pacer from Bihar, was the most expensive player for the team and was picked for INR 5.5 crores.

7. Rajasthan Royals (8/10)

Rajasthan Royals Jersey 2023. (Photo Source: RR/Twitter)

Jaipur is known as the Pink City due to the dominant colour scheme of its buildings, and the same colour dominates the team’s jersey as well. Along with pink, the colour blue has also been used in the playing kit. The new kit has a stepwell design inspired by Rajasthan’s step-wells (baori). 

The step-wells have been a part of Rajasthan’s culture for over a thousand years, and fans of the franchise can take pride in their tradition while donning the jersey. Last season, Rajasthan Royals finished as the runner-up after they lost the final against Gujarat Giants.

Last year, both the orange and purple caps were won by players from Rajasthan. While Jos Buttler took home the orange cap, the purple cap was won by Yuzvendra Chahal. In the lead-up to this year’s IPL, the team made some smart moves at the auction. They bought Jason Holder for INR 5.75 crores, and he is expected to be a key player this season.

6. Punjab Kings (8/10)

Punjab Kings. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

In 2021, Punjab Kings changed their name from the earlier Kings XI Punjab, and incorporated red and gold in their logo and jersey to validate their new identity. Over the years, the team has more or less managed to retain the same colour.

Red has been the primary colour in the kit, while golden can be spotted on the shoulder, collar, and sides of the jersey. Shikhar Dhawan has been appointed the team’s captain, while Trevor Bayliss is the new coach.

Kings will start their campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders on April 1. They will miss the services of Jonny Bairstow for the entire season, who has been replaced by Matthew Short. Kagiso Rabada and Liam Livingstone will not be available for selection for the first game.

5. Sunrisers Hyderabad (8.5/10)

Mayank Agarwal, Umran Malik, Washington Sundar. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The team launched their new jersey on Twitter through a photo shoot, featuring Mayank Agarwal, Umran Malik and Washington Sundar. Bhuvneshwar Kumar donned the same jersey during the captains’ meet ahead of the launch of the 16th edition of IPL. 

Like other franchises, Sunrisers Hyderabad have also retained their primary colours – orange and black – from last year’s jersey. Sunrisers will begin their journey this season against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.

Aiden Markram, who helped SRH’s sister franchise Sunrisers Eastern Cape to win the inaugural edition of SA20, has been appointed as the team’s new captain. However, Markram will miss the first game as he is playing the ODI series against Netherlands at home. The franchise is yet to name their skipper for the first game, but Bhuvneshwar Kumar is likely to fill in for Markram.

4. Mumbai Indians (8.5/10)

MI jersey (Photo Source: Twitter)

Blue has been the official colour of the Mumbai Indians‘ jersey since the start of the season. Over the years, they have experimented with the shades, but the primary colour has remained the same. This season, the team has made some minor changes to the jersey from last year. 

The jersey has been designed to incorporate the symbols of the city of dreams, Mumbai. Arabian Sea, Kali Peeli Taxi, Gateway of India, and Sea Link are all printed in the jersey’s centre. The golden colour is also used on the side of the kit, which signifies the euphoria of the streets of Mumbai.

The five-time champions finished in the last place last season as they managed to win just four out of their 14 games. They will play their first game against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday.

3. Kolkata Knight Riders (9/10)

KKR new jersey. (Photo Source: Twitter/KKRiders)

The two-times-champions have used the colour purple and gold over the years in their jersey. This year, Kolkata Knight Riders will again don a jersey dominated by these two colours. Only the main sponsor at the centre of the kit has changed; the rest of it is similar to what we saw last year. MyFab11 has been named the official sponsor of the team. 

Kolkata Knight Riders will play their opening game against Punjab Kings on Saturday in Mohali. They will miss the services of Shreyas Iyer for the initial part of the tournament and have thus named Nitish Rana as their skipper. 

At the mini-auction for this season, Knight Riders made some excellent moves and picked David Wiese, Shakib Al Hasan, and Litton Das for their base price. Both Shakib and Litton will be unavailable for the opening game.

2. Royal Challengers Bangalore (9/10)

Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The Bangalore-based team has done some of the best experiments with their jersey over the years. In 2016, Royal Challengers Bangalore became the first team to adopt different jerseys for home and away games.

They have a tradition of playing in a green jersey once every season as a part of their ‘Go Green’ initiative. The team has decided to retain the same red and black from last year’s jersey this season.

They will play their first game against Mumbai Indians on Sunday. Last year, RCB won eight out of 14 games and finished in fourth place on the points table. They lost the second qualifier game against Rajasthan Royals and failed to move further. Will Jacks, purchased at the mini-auction, has been ruled out of the season and replaced by Michael Bracewell.

1. Gujarat Titans (9.5/10)

Gujarat Titans. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Gujarat Titans made their debut last year and went on to clinch the title after defeating Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets. Titans wore the dark blue jersey which was deemed one of the best among that of all the ten teams.

They have not tweaked their jersey for this season much, and the design remains the same. However, Titans have added a star at the top of their logo, which signifies their title win last season.

Titans made history at the auction table, achieving a 100% success rate. They bid for seven players and managed to pick each one of them. The Hardik Pandya-led team decided to strengthen their pace attack as they shelled out INR 6 crores for Shivam Mavi and INR 4.4 crores for Joshua Little. They also bought Kane Williamson and Odean Smith for their base price.