The Indian Premier League is back: What are the main talking points?

Can Kohli finally win an IPL crown, will Starc justify that max contract and what role will the Indian election play?

The 17th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) — world cricket’s largest T20 tournament — begins on Friday, March 22, with the defending champion Chennai Super Kings hosting the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The tournament fields 10 teams packed with many of the greatest players from around the globe.

While the prize money for this year’s IPL has not been confirmed by organisers, and if previous years are anything to go by, the IPL purse this time around is expected to be around $6m, with the winning team collecting approximately $2.4m.

Virat Kohli is a player who has won just about everything there is to win in world cricket — except an IPL title.

The Indian batsman has played in all 16 IPL seasons for Royal Challengers Bangalore, agonisingly finishing tournament runners-up in 2009, 2011 and 2016. He is the all-time leading run-scorer in IPL history.

With Kohli skipping the recent home series against England for personal reasons, some believe the clock is also ticking on the 35-year-old’s IPL career — could 2024 be the iconic batsman’s final season?

This year’s event represents one of the best opportunities for Kohli to win the IPL. He is joined in the 2024 Bangalore squad by the formidable Aussie talents of Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green, South African captain Faf du Plessis and fast-bowling Indian teammate Mohammed Siraj.

An IPL crown for Kohli would be a perfect final chapter to the career of one the greatest cricket players ever.

Aussie quick Mitchell Starc made headlines last December when he obliterated the IPL auction record, becoming the most expensive player purchase of all time at