Reportedly, the Indian Premier League will start on March 26 this year and the decision was taken at a meeting of the IPL Governing Council on Thursday. Four stadiums in Mumbai and Pune will be hosting the league stage of IPL.
The IPL broadcaster Star had asked for a Saturday start of the league and the Indian cricket board decided to kick on IPL 2022 on a Saturday i.e, on March 26. The IPL GC meeting held virtually took a call on the IPL venues and reportedly 55 games will be played in Mumbai while 15 will be hosted in Pune- across four stadiums. Wankhede will host 20 games, Brabourne 15, DY Patil Stadium 20, and Maharashtra Cricket Association ground will host 15 games.
IPL chairman Brijesh Patel told Cricbuzz, “The IPL will kick off on March 26, the full schedule will come soon. We will also have crowds but as per the policy of the Maharashtra government. Whether it will be 25 or 50 per cent of the stadium capacity will be decided by the government instruction.”
The tournament is set to run till Sunday, May 29. The venues for the playoffs are yet to be decided but Ahmedabad is likely to hold the games. Patel said, “We will decide about the play-offs later.” Meanwhile the BCCI identified four grounds for practice- BKC ground in Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, Brabourne Stadium in South Mumbai, DY Patil ground in Navi Mumbai and either MCA Ground in Kandivali or in Thane.
There were plans to explore overseas venues but this year the BCCI categorically decided to host the league in India. At a meeting on January 22, all 10 franchises had unanimously backed the IPL’s first option of conducting the tournament in India.
The Governing Council also spoke about bringing back the Women’s T20 Challenge, which last took place in 2020. The Women’s T20 Challenge usually takes place during the IPL’s playoffs week. The BCCI president Sourav Ganguly earlier had mentioned about the BCCI plan of hosting full fledged women’s IPL in 2023.
The IPL Council released the new format to be followed in IPL. The 10 teams participating in the league will be divided in two groups based on the number of times they have won the title.
Group A will be led by five-time champions Mumbai Indians, who have got the top seeding overall. Four-time winners Chennai Super Kings, will be on top in Group B with the No. 2 seeding. Group A will have Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants, in that order. Group B will have Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans, in that order.
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