NEW DELHI: It was expected much earlier, but the unique nature of the global situation due to Covid-19 forced the BCCI to delay announcing the schedule for the upcoming 13th edition of the Indian Premier League to be held in UAE.
It’s official now, defending champions Mumbai Indians will kickstart the season against Chennai Super Kings with a blockbuster opening clash on September 19 in Abu Dhabi.
Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council releases the complete fixtures for the league stage of the Dream11 IPL 2020 to be held in UAE. https://t.co/7FRfkI6Cbg pic.twitter.com/iM4HTBpMNo
— ANI (@ANI) September 6, 2020
After the tournament opener on Saturday, Dubai will host its first game on Sunday with Delhi Capitals taking on Kings XI Punjab, followed by the third match on Monday between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
“The IPL action will shift to Sharjah on Tuesday, 22nd September where Rajasthan Royals will host Chennai Super Kings,” a BCCI press release stated.
There will be 10 double headers with the first match starting at 3:30PM IST and 2:00PM UAE time.
All evening matches will start at 7:30PM IST and 6:00PM UAE time. In all, 24 matches will be held in Dubai, 20 in Abu Dhabi and 12 in Sharjah.
Venues for the playoffs and the IPL 2020 final will be announced later.
IPL 2020 is being held in bio secure bubbles in the UAE and all players and support staff are being regularly tested.
The upcoming 53-day edition is by far the longest in the history of the league.
The schedule was delayed after 13 personnel of the Chennai Super Kings camp tested positive for the dreaded virus.
Also, due to different quarantine rules in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, IPL’s operations team took time to finalise the schedule.
As per IPL rules, the defending champions and last year’s runner-up face off in the tournament opener. The same is going to happen this year after concerns over Chennai Super Kings’ readiness were erased with their first practice session in Dubai on Friday.
CSK were the last franchise to hit the nets after clearing final rounds of COVID-19 testing.
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and all other CSK players, except for the COVID-19 afflicted duo of Deepak Chahar and Ruturaj Gaikwad, started training on Friday.
With Deepak and Ruturaj testing positive last week along with 11 members of the CSK contingent, the team was forced to delay its training plan after completing the six-day quarantine, including three tests, upon arrival on August 21.
The virus free players had to undergo three additional tests before beginning their training on Friday. The infected players are in 14-day quarantine.
This year’s IPL was originally scheduled to be held from March 29 to May 24 but was postponed barely two weeks before the start of the tournament due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Then, as the number of cases increased, the league was indefinitely postponed but the postponement of the T20 World Cup cleared the decks for the league to take place in the September-November window.
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