Mumbai: Former pacer and Malayali cricketer S Sreesanth said that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) could not win the Indian Premier League (IPL) title this year, NDTV reports.
CSK is the second most successful franchise in the IPL, with four titles so far, despite being banned for two editions in the tournament. India's former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni led the super team through all their title wins, while Mumbai Indians remain the most successful with five titles.
However, Sreesanth believes that this year the team might not make it to the glory, though Dhoni is donning the skipper's band once more.
Sreesanth told Sports Yaari that he doesn't think that CSK will win IPL 2023. He continued that there is only one Mallu captain- Sanju Samson, and he supports Samson's team, Rajasthan Royals.
Rajasthan won the inaugural edition of the tournament.
Sree said that, but he would like to see a new team winning this year, like RCB (Royal Challengers Bangalore), which has been there since the beginning but couldn't touch the cup, despite having outstanding players.
Virat Kohli has contributed so much to Indian cricket, and therefore, it would be great if RCB raised the trophy this year, Sree opined.
Despite appearing in three IPL finals, RCB is yet to taste the sweetness of a title win. They reached the finals first in 2009 and lost to the now-defunct Deccan Chargers. In 2011, the second time, it was the CSK itself who became RCB's villain. RCB entered the final for the third and last time in 2016 and bowed out, losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Kolkata Knight Riders, owned by Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan, is the third most successful franchise in terms of titles. It won two of them in 2012 and 2014 under the captaincy of Gautham Gambhir.