Can you watch IPL 2023 free on your mobile phone?

The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League, IPL 2023, will be held from March 31 to May 28. The season will kick off with a high-voltage clash between defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) and four-time winners Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

While league matches in the previous season were restricted to Mumbai, Pune, and Ahmedabad, the tournament will revert to the home-and-away format this year. Each team will thus play seven home and away games respectively in the league stage.

A total of 70 league-stage matches will be played across 12 venues over 52 days. There will be a total of 18 doubleheaders in IPL 2023, with the day games starting at 3:30 PM IST and the evening games at 07:30 PM IST.

The league stage will conclude with a doubleheader on May 21. Mumbai Indians (MI) will meet Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the day game at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, while Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will face Gujarat Titans in the evening clash at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

While the schedule for the playoffs is yet to be announced, the final will be played on May 28.

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How to watch IPL 2023 free on your mobile?

Star network has bagged the TV broadcasting rights of the IPL in the Indian subcontinent for the next five years. This means that Star network channels will telecast the IPL 2023 matches live on television.

In recent years, Disney+Hotstar app has been live-streaming IPL matches as Star held both TV and digital rights. However, in the latest sale of media rights, Viacom 18 bagged the rights to live-stream IPL matches. The JioCinema app will live-steam IPL 2023 matches.

The change comes with good news for cricket fans. While viewers needed to purchase a subscription to watch IPL matches on Disney+Hotstar, JioCinema will live stream all the IPL matches free of cost.

Significantly, this is irrespective of telecom providers. In other words, you can watch IPL 2023 matches for free on the JioCinema app even if you don’t have Jio SIM card. All you need is a data plan and you just have to pay the data costs to watch the matches on your mobile device.

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How much will viewers have to spend on data to watch IPL 2023 matches?

According to a report in exchange4media.com, a three-hour IPL match could require anywhere between three to 10 GB data depending on various factors like mobile specifications, video quality, and data speed.

As such, a viewer might have to pay between ₹28 to ₹140 to watch one match IPL (the average cost of one GB data in India is ₹14).

In February, Jio had announced that it would offer exclusive access to live IPL matches in 4K resolution, complete with multiple camera angles.

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Special Jio data plans for IPL 2023

Meanwhile, as per a recent report in Business Insider India, Jio has launched three plans keeping the upcoming IPL in mind. Prepaid recharges of ₹219, ₹399, and ₹999 will provide users with 3GB of data per day and special data add-on plans.

The validity of the plans is as follows: 219 (14 days), 399 (28 days), and 999 (84 days). As for the plans, Jio said in an official release:

“With the truly unlimited True-5G data that comes with all the Cricket Plans. Jio users can watch live matches through multiple camera angles in 4K clarity across screens. The plans are designed keeping in mind the immersive experience which cricket lovers deserve.”

The offer was made available to Jio users from March 24.