- IPL 2021 will kickstart on 9 April, 2021 in Chennai where defending champions Mumbai Indians will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore as tournament opener
- One of the highlights of this edition is that all matches will be played at neutral venues, no team will play at their home venue
The IPL 2021 on Sunday will run from April 9 to May 30 across six venues with no team getting to play at home, its Governing Council announced on Sunday.
Despite COVID-19 surge, Mumbai has been named as one of the host cities and the tournament will be held behind closed doors at least in in the initial phase of the tournament.
The other venues are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata. The Nardendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will host the final on May 30 as well as the play-offs.
The season will kickstart on 9 April, 2021 in Chennai where defending champions Mumbai Indians will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore as tournament opener.
The World’s Largest Cricket Stadium, which has been recently named Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, will host the playoffs as well as the final on 30 May, 2021.
Click here for the full list of fixtures, timings, dates, venues at the IPL 2021.
Each team is set to play at four venues during the league stage. Out of the 56 league matches, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata & Bengaluru will host 10 matches each while Ahmedabad and Delhi will host 8 matches each. One of the highlights of this edition is that all matches will be played at neutral venues, no team will play at their home venue. All teams will play at 4 out of 6 venues during the league stage.
There will be a total of 11 doubleheaders where 6 teams will play three afternoon matches and two teams will play two afternoon matches. The afternoon games are slated for a 3:30 PM IST start while the evening games will have a 7:30 PM IST start.
As on Sunday, the BCCI’s released schedule for the first four weeks till May 6 during which 33 matches will be played and not a single game has been slotted in Kolkata during the phase as there will be eight-phase state assembly elections in Bengal.
“The fixtures of the tournament have been mapped in a way that every team will travel only three times during the league stage, thus reducing commute and minimising risk.
“The VIVO IPL this year at home will be played behind closed doors to begin with and a call on allowing spectators will be taken at a later stage of the tournament,” the statement read further.
The previous edition was played in the UAE amid the pandemic but since then the COVID-19 situation has improved drastically in India.
