'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAMDAwMDAwQEBAQFBQUFBQcHBgYHBwsICQgJCAsRCwwLCwwLEQ8SDw4PEg8bFRMTFRsfGhkaHyYiIiYwLTA+PlQBAwMDAwMDBAQEBAUFBQUFBwcGBgcHCwgJCAkICxELDAsLDAsRDxIPDg8SDxsVExMVGx8aGRofJiIiJjAtMD4+VP/AABEIAAUACgMBIgACEQEDEQH/xABgAAEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABggQAAEEAgIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIBAwQRABIUQQYTMQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAURAQEAAgIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECERIAAzFBYf/aAAwDAQACEQMRAD8AxGxIlzJscDfMOQYt2CqKjZql33WTkryQ2JLzXGEvW4Q3t91Wu0xjLnTM3UbA566fHvdOFbs2CkBnGPpz/9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
A tournament like the Indian Premier League (IPL) thrives on rivalries, folklore, and drama, which enthralls the fans with a sense of entertainment. The rivalry can be between anyone - teams, players, or the social media handles of the respective teams.
It's an important prospect to bind the fans to a long tournament like the IPL.
It's not that these rivalries are created on purpose - they only need an ignition to create a sense of conflict among the people.
The ever-promoted "El Clasico" of the IPL between five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) and four-time winners Chennai Super Kings (CSK) started in 2010, two years after the IPL's inception.
With every passing season, this rivalry continues to build and has intensified not only among fans and their social media handles but also among the two champion teams.
There have been more such rivalries built across the season, some created by fans and some created by the intensity of the matches played between the two teams.
IPL 2023 has been no different so far in terms of rivalries. This season should, or rather, be remembered for having some unlikely rivalries that no one has ever imagined having.
In this article, we dwell on the rivalries built among fans, teams, or teams' social media handles.
#3 Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings
What do you need to have a fierce rivalry? Close matches? Controversy? Trolling and sledging one another?
You name it, and these two teams have provided all the ingredients for what we call a blockbuster encounter between these two teams. Be it the 2015 Super Over, Ravichandran Ashwin "Mankading" Jos Buttler (2019), Rahul Tewatia smacking five sixes off Sheldon Cottrell (2020), Sanju Samson's lone fight in a big chase (2021), or Kartik Tyagi defending four runs in the last over against Punjab (2021), this rivalry never disappointed fans.
It wasn't just fans who used to term the rivalry between these two other "El Clasico" in the IPL, this year the social media handles of both teams were involved in the banter with each calling it the same.
Didn't it also justify the "El Clasico" tag this time?
In a high-scoring thriller, the Punjab Kings (PBKS) did manage to put down the Rajasthan Royals (RR) by five runs, with Sam Curran bowling a stupendous last over to give only 10 runs against a rampant Dhruv Jurel and Jason Holder.
#2 Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings
This was never meant to be a fiery rivalry by any means, but the Punjab Kings' Twitter handle had other ideas.
After Arshdeep Singh bowled a superb 20th over in the first match between the two sides, breaking the middle stump as many as two times in that over, the Punjab Kings tagged the Mumbai Police handle in banter to troll the Mumbai Indians.
Fans could have taken this in a sporting manner had they not also scrapped Sachin Tendulkar's name in a post to appreciate their Impact Player and opener Prabhsimran Singh's performance.
This triggered not only Mumbai Indians fans but also fans across the country who admired the legend in a godly way.
When the two teams met for the second time this season, it was Mumbai's turn to take revenge, as they, after their six-wicket win against their opponents, tweeted that there was nothing to report there and that they had just played a game of cricket and beaten their opponents.
But fans took it upon themselves to troll the Punjab team by reminding them of their previous tweets.
#1 Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants
After the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Lucknow, there were some ugly scenes.
RCB, with a fiercely charged-up Virat Kohli, were keen to avenge their bitter loss at home, where Gautam Gambhir's "finger on lip" celebration to silence the Chinnaswamy crowd didn't go well with not only the fans but also with Virat.
It was a battle within the battle, during which Kohli mimicked Gambhir only to encourage the crowd to cheer louder.
After the game got over, an altercation between Kohli-Naveen-ul-Haq and Kohli-Gambhir made headlines with verbal volleys thrown at each other.
