The latest development to the postponed edition of the Indian Premier League is confirmed to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from the 19th of September, with the final to be played on November 8. The news was confirmed by IPL chairman Brijesh Patel earlier on friday, Though It is to be noted that BCCI is still awaiting a response from the government on conducting IPL outside of India.
“We have written to the Indian government. We are expecting a reply soon. Once it comes in, an IPL governing council meeting will be called next week to finalise all the other details.”
When the governing council meets next week, it will have other decisions to take, whether the home and away format can be retained this year or not. There are three venues in the UAE–Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai-where matches can be staged. Dubai itself has two grounds; apart from the main stadium, there is also the ICC academy ground where T20 internationals of Associate Nations have been staged. Also, the modalities of expenditure, how much would be borne by the franchises and by the board will have to be finalised. “All these issues will be decided by the governing council,” Patel added.
With the schedule being official now, the tournament is to be held on a 51-day, the same as last year. The decision to rule out more doubleheaders was mainly in focus of the broadcasters who were finding it difficult to leverage from the afternoon matches as the viewership for the evening games were more. Keeping that in mind the Board has not completely ruled out the doubleheaders,instead have decided to schedule them on weekends.
The governing council is all set for the meeting next week. Several decisions on the format and conditions on how the tournament is to be conducted is planned to be discussed in the meeting. It will also decide if the matches can have limited crowds, as the pandemic situation is a lot better in UAE. Though the government will have to make the final call on the same.
As the official word has come, with every team requiring at least a month to train as this is the first mega-tournament to play post the forced lockdown. The franchises are expected to leave for the camp by August 20, which would give them the required 4 weeks for preparations.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE – September 19 and November 8, 60 matches are scheduled to be played.
VENUES – The matches will likely be held in the stadiums of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
MATCH TIMINGS (TENTATIVE) – 7 pm IST (5:30 pm UAE time). For double-headers, the day is likely to start at 3 pm IST (1:30 PM UAE time).
Cover Credits: CricketAddictor
