They’re here. It’s officially that time of the year. Shout your lungs out, Paltan. Our IPL batch of 2023 have touched down at the team hotel in Mumbai.

Over the next few hours these players would be a part of the first batch of boys checking in:

Tilak Varma: He’s brought in three suitcases of his 2022 purple patch

Arshad Khan: Back with a bang after injury kept him out for a large part of last year. And suitcases of vengeance  

Ramandeep Singh: There’s everything in his bags, much like the multi-utility all-rounder that he is

Raghav Goyal: A miserly left-arm bowler, fresh from miserly returns in the DY Patil T20 tournament

Nehal Wadhera: Some red hot form spotted, with a century and a double-century in his maiden First Class season

Hrithik Shokeen: Quite like his Bollywood namesake, expect a starry entry

Kumar Kartikeya: Let’s hope there’s enough mystery in those check-in bags of his

Akash Madhwal: He’ll make a swift entry, much like his deliveries

Start the countdown. 17 days to go until our first game on April 2, 2023, against RCB at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. It’s time for those two months of maddening non-stop cricketing action, criss-crossing the length and the breadth of India. The first step is done.